Survivor - Emperors vs Knights
by KoopalingFan
Summary: (Season 2) (COMPLETE) Two different walks of life will be put to the test as twenty castaways are stranded on an island in Japan, forcing themselves to create a new society where they must learn to adapt, or they will voted out of the game. Last man standing earns a million dollars and the title of Sole Survivor. Ch 49: "We are now at our live reunion show!"
1. Chapter 1: The Marooning

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 1- The Marooning

**Well, here it is. "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights" is finally here. Those of you who read "Survivor - Kodai Island", welcome back to my second installment of my Survivor series. The first season focused exclusively on Super Smash Brothers, but this series as a whole will be a Super Smash Brothers x Game-Xover series. So for fans of Smash, you will mostly get some familiar face plus a few others who you aren't as aware about. We have those, Smashers, and Assist Trophies all in the mix. Welcome back and I hope you enjoy this!**

**Now for those of you who are getting into this series for the first time (or is this is even your first time even hearing about Survivor), then welcome. It's good to see new readers getting into this series! Survivor is a reality TV show series that basically has a group of people stranded on an island divided into two teams (sometimes more) as they compete in a series of challenges as well as strategizing to get each other voted off in any way they can, until eventually there is a final two or three (there will always be a final three in my stories) and whoever has made it far enough into the game (that also made it just short of reaching the finals) get to decide on who is most deserving to win a million dollars as well as the title of Sole Survivor. I will try my best to ease you all in!**

**But for the people that have heard of Survivor before but haven't came across this series until now (unless you read the pre-show "Emperors vs Knights - Meet the Cast" fic, than welcome! Now first of all, it is not a requirement to read "Survivor - Kodai Island" but if you want to check out that fic as you wait for more chapters for this to read two seasons at the same time, then feel free to do so. Just so you know, this is basically an AU fic where none of the characters know each other, as well as some of their stories being altered a little. (For example, the three FNAF characters that re in this are anthropomorphic and work at different jobs at wherever, Sheik and Zelda are two different people (also, this is gonna be the Smash 4/Brawl Zelda from Twilight Princess), Roy is 18 instead of fifteen so he can compete in this (just like Sonic in Kodai Island), and for a smaller detail, Greninja's over-extended tongue doesn't exist and it's just as normal as everybody else's. I feel like that if it's otherwise, not only it would be predictable, but I'd find it to be more exciting and fun if they didn't know each other. But here are the castaways: Nago (Emperors Tribe): Peach, Zelda, Ghirahim, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy. Chatan (Knights Tribe): Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Rouge, Cloud, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy. (And just so you know, due to the FNAF characters having basically no personalities in their game due to them simply being animatronic robots, they're going to be anthropomorphic animals with different personalities and backstories here. And before anyone asks, Bonnie is a male.)**

**Now for this first chapter, this is going to be a marooning, an introduction chapter basically for the twenty people that are going to compete where we will have the opening challenge take place. Master Hand is the host for the series so expect him to of course be heavily involved here. And then afterwards, the group's official thirty-nine day adventure will begin. I'll explain more in the ending author's note because the opening author's note here is already very long due to me basically introducing this fic to three different groups of people who are reading this. So with that being said, enjoy!**

**~KF**

* * *

_**Survivor is once again returning to Japan where twenty people will battle it out on Kodai Island. Almost forty seasons of Survivor has shown multiple approaches to life being put to the Ultimate test...**_

_**And it will be the ultimate challenge one more time...**_

In the middle of the East China Sea were two boats with ten strangers each.

_**Emperors**_

_**These ten players are all about taking matters in their own hands and leading others to victory in any way they can based off authority, domination, and positive reception...**_

Peach Toadstool smiled with confidence until a sudden wave caught her off guard resulting in a gasp. Nonetheless, she regained her composure and giggled it off.

_"I guess I was put onto this tribe based off what I do back in my kingdom! I always loved to help others in my community because I always felt that it was the right thing to do. I also like to bakes sweets and treats and sell them. Some sort of a little hobby of mine. But I guess no matter what I do people generally think that I am a 'princess that can do no wrong.'" She laughed a little. "Well I guess if people enjoy me as a person that it's something that I can't really complain about."_

Unlike the 'princess' of her kingdom, Shadow the Hedgehog meanwhile although seemed to be well prepared for what was to come, the straightforward expression on his face resulted in an opposite overall vibe in comparison.

_"Perhaps this is an opportunity to test myself. Back where I come from, people see me as a force to be reckoned with. Whether people like me or not, it still does not change the fact that people have known for easily stepping over anyone that comes in my way. Depending on how people perceive in this competition, it's as simple as the old saying goes: 'Stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours.'"_

Like Peach though, Roy appeared to be rather eager on what was to come, and it showed due to him showing teeth out of anticipation, taking the time to eye his surroundings even though his main focus was on what was in front of him.

_"I became a swordsman while I was an adolescent and I'm still an adolescent to this day. Nevertheless, I still managed to take control and prevent an entire war from happening. Because of me being so young, I am quite literally called the 'Young Lion' back where I am from. And conveniently I am on Survivor at such a young age. But age is irrelevant." He shook his head. "If I can prevent an entire war from occurring, I am pretty sure I have what it takes to win the competition."_

**_Knights_**

**_These ten players are known for fighting through to the bitter end at any price, whether it is based on their work ethic, personal struggles, and pushing through to get out of tight situations to take control of their own fate..._**

Sitting near the front of the boat was none other than Shovel Knight who was more than happy with the ones who accompanied him on the trip to whatever destination they were heading to.

_"Besides the fact that I literally have the word 'knight' in my name, I guess I was put onto this tribe by me generally getting through any situation whenever I could. I fought through thick and thin for myself as well as for my partner, all with my trusty ol' shovel from back at home. If I am put in a situation where it seems impossible to get out of in this wonderful game, I will not pout about it. Instead, I will attempt at my hardest to make it through no matter what it takes."_

After encountering a wave, due to him never expecting it to come out of nowhere, Luigi was actually heavily startled about it he nearly lost his balance. Yet in just a couple seconds later, he calmed himself down and actually grinned knowing that it was nothing.

_"My brother just came back from 'Survivor - Kodai Island' just a few weeks ago and he taught me everything he knew, so I guess now it's my turn. But even though it sort of gives me an advantage, I don't know what is to come for my game. I assume that the number one reason of me being on this team of knights is because of how things were back in the Mushroom Kingdom where people always see me as the guy who's in his older brother's shadow. I know this game will push me to the limit, but I am willing to take this game on and hopefully make a name for myself out here."_

Knuckles the Echidna although never showed excitement, nor slight nervousness, his facial expression read that he was determined more than ever to begin playing. Even with the wave coming, Knuckles barely budged as if it was a voice that was never heard.

_"When I was just a kid, I found out that I was the last of my kind. Now I am forced protect this Master Emerald back on Angel Island where I always lived for the rest of my life, or else the world would erupt into chaos to say the least. But I dunno anyone that had to go through what I had to go through, let alone at the age of **five**. All this was of course anything but easy. But I still continue to push through to this day, no matter how hard it may seem to be at times. I know I can handle being stranded out here with a bunch of strangers when I'm stranded all alone on another island back on Mobius."_

**_With two very different approaches to life, they will be put to the biggest competition on television in order to find out which approach is best suit for Survivor. These twenty people will be abandoned and force to fend for themselves. In the end, one will remain to win it all..._**

And floating right above a large rock standing tall in the water was the host of Survivor, Master Hand himself.

"Thirty-nine days, twenty people, _one_ Survivor!"

-/-

The next thing the twenty competitors knew was that they were beginning to board the ship one after the other. However, it was simply one tribe at a time as starting with Peach, the emperors all boarded said ship one by one, making their way over to the red mat at Master Hand's left.

Once Ghirahim ended up being the last to stand on the mat, starting with Shovel Knight, the Knights tribe all leaped on board making their way over to the yellow mat until Cloud found his spot on their mat.

As literally all the emperors stared them down, the knights simply stared back. Not just in response alone, but to simply get a good look them. Nonetheless, the stare down just had to wait for another time, as Master Hand desired to kick things off as soon as possible.

"Welcome to our next season of Survivor."

And immediately the contestants cheered the loudest cheer as a group of twenty.

"Now, throughout the history of Survivor, we've tested out what it would be like if multiple walks of life were put to the test out here on the show, one team facing the other based on their approach to different situations and life obstacles." He began to elaborate. "We've had men vs women, old vs young, heroes vs villains, white collar vs blue collar vs no collar, brain vs brawn vs beauty, you name it. This time we're simply doing it..._ again_."

And so, he went over to pull down a lever, and a board drop until it fell below the other, the latter wooden board revealing the season's title.

"This is Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!"

Of course, the players just had to cheer again upon staring at the title that was behind them.

"We have two different types of people this season. Let us start with the emperors first." The host of the show began to point. "Guy in the back. What's your name?"

"Ghirahim."

"Okay, Ghirahim, I'm gonna keep it simple. What brings you out here?"

"Well, long story short, this is basically just another experience that I can have in my lifetime. I've always wanted to submit an application for the show. But in regards to the theme I suppose, I... may not one hundred be aware of what the word 'emperor' means in this case scenario, but I assume that it has something to do with being some sort of ruler of authority."

"Well, believe it or not,..." said the master. "you're actually right in a way."

That actually made Ghirahim's grin grow larger.

"What about the guy standing next to him. What's your name?"

"Marth."

"Marth, what have you accomplished before you came out here?"

"I believe I have simply accomplished something I never thought I would." Though he smirked, he was getting ready to cover something he was not wanting to go over at the time, but he felt that it had to be put out there anyway. "After the unfortunate passing of my father, long story short, I was forced to step up and take control of not only my own fate, but the fate of others as well. And so, it led me to become the man I truly am today."

"And that leads me to reveal of what an emperor really is." said Master Hand. "The emperors are typically a group of people that are destined for domination. They are the type of people that usually get by taking control of almost every situation they're in by taking matters into their own hands, whether it be based off their likability, having some sort of authority in their daily lives, and like Marth said, being forced to step up in order to take control of your own fate."

"On the other hand, we have the knights of this game. They might not always be known for the dominant ones in life, but what they are known for is their willpower that comes from within, the ability to stick it out for as long as possible and pushing themselves to the very limit and fight to the bitter end no matter what it takes. And all that is based off their work ethic, hard work and determination, and doing what they do best." After the explanation of how both tribes approach life, Master Hand rotated his hand to his right. "Let's take a look at the yellow team. Guy on the far right. What is your name?"

"I'm Foxy."

"Foxy, do you consider yourself to be a knight out here?"

"Well,..." He took a brief moment to glance at the emperors. "I'll be honest here. Even though I have authority by being the boss, or _captain_ of where I work at, I guess I'm still a knight somehow based off my work ethic. Not everything might go as planned, not everything might go my way, but in the end when you're getting through day by day, obstacle after obstacle, the end result that comes with it is worth it a hundred and ten percent."

"Alright, guy right behind him. What's your name?"

"Cloud."

"Cloud, what do you have to add to that?"

"I think I have defined the definition of a knight pretty well." He had to admit. "I was a part of this great force called SOLDIER where I was literally a soldier on secret missions. And afterwards, when I had opportunities to do much more, sometimes it's not always interesting, but rather continuing to do anything you're simply required to and take on any job that is out there in order to get paid. Anything beyond that is irrelevant in my book."

"So let me get this straight. What you're saying is that you basically _had_ the opportunity to become an emperor, but you decided not to. You cared more about getting your reward than doing more just for the sake of it as in helping others. Literally all you care about is simply doing your job."

Cloud Strife nodded in confirmation. "I believe you've explained it better than myself, master."

"Well, alright then." He figured that the castaways grasped the theme pretty well. "So there you have it. We have the emperors that are used to executing their plans perfectly throughout their lives and we have the knights that have great work ethic and knowing to never give up. And it all set up for a potentially good season. And you know what? Let's put it to our first test right now."

A mixture of applause, excitement, and cheers were sounded.

"We're going to have our first reward challenge in order to get a taste of how these two different approaches to life play out here. Emperors tribe, we'll start with you all." Master Hand's focus was back on the red team. "Choose who do you think are the two weakest knights of the group."

The ten knights all immediately glanced and watch the emperors all huddling up and to make a group decision. Whispers were heard and finger pointing was seen.

...

"Alright, emperors." Their time was up. "Who do you all think are the two weakest of the Knights tribe?"

Freddy Fazbear spoke up. "We pick the green-capped man in the front and the bat over there."

"Luigi and Rouge. Step forward."

As the two did what was told, Rouge kept her smirk in spite of being pointed out by the opposing team, said smirk hiding some sort of annoyance on the inside.

_"Naturally, being called the weakest by the other team is quite nerve wracking." In spite of her comment, her smirk still remained. "But I'm alright. They know they will regret it. I bet I could take on some of those emperors any day."_

"Alright, knights." It was now their turn to choose. "It's gonna be a little different for you guys. For you all, you need to decide who do you think are the two strongest emperors."

And so, it was now their turn to whispers, with the emperors reacting in a similar manner the knights were when two of them had to be chosen.

"Okay, knights, who is it gonna be?"

Greninja pointed the two out. "Ghirahim and the bear on the left."

"Ghirahim and Freddy took a couple steps off their mat to come forward."

"Now Luigi, you've just been called out by the emperors as being one of the weakest of the tribe."

"Well," Zelda laughed slightly. "we didn't necessarily mean it in a rather derogative, insulting way, master. We have just done what was told."

"Fair enough."

"Well, it's definitely not surprising it all to hear that I am the weakest over here." Luigi scratched the back of his head. "I honestly would have been more surprised if I wasn't called to step forward. However, this could only mean that I have something to prove already over here."

"Oh, don't worry, Luigi." Rouge grinned facing him for a bit. "We got this under control."

"Now on the other hand, no pun intended," said the master. "We have Ghirahim and Freddy representing the emperors tribe. Freddy, you happen to point out the two people standing across from you on the knights tribe, and now _you_ get chosen."

He smiled and chuckled just a bit with a nod. "I'm not mad at them. If that's what they think then that's what they think. We'll just see how this goes."

"And we will. It's time for your first _reward_ challenge. Now, in spite of both tribes are known for working hard in life, the emperors should have the advantage by just a little bit." He used his own fingers for visuals. "And so, the knights are at a slight disadvantage. However, we're gonna give them an opportunity to tip the favor to _their_ side. Luigi, Rouge, as you can see there are many obstacles out there. You must choose with the emperors have to take, and then you're gonna with path you two will have to take. The thing is that for the knights, the goal is to put Ghirahim and Freddy on the most difficult path to take and let themselves have an easier time on the course."

"Here's how it works: as for the first stage it is all about balance. You can for a beam over water, a plank bridge, or a two person track walking side to side while holding one end of a rope. As for the next stage, it's all about agility where you get the choice of getting through the net tube, the rope tunnel, or the crawl under. As for the third stage, you have the choice between the fifteen piece cube puzzle, and eight piece slide puzzle, or transferring thirty sandbags from one platform to another one at a time. And whoever reaches the end must crawl out to release a massive shelter making kit which will be for the winning tribe."

Ghirahim was already eyeing the knights with firsts against his hips as Freddy had his arms folded staring at the master.

"Okay, knights. Luigi and Rouge, I'm going to give you two a chance to discuss about the decisions you both are going to make."

Thus, the whispering began. Even though Rouge ended up doing all the talking, Luigi at least seem to mutter a few words as everyone else watched.

"Alright, Rouge." The hand was ready. "What did you and Luigi decide on what the emperors are gonna do?"

Rouge began to point with her other wrist on her hip. "They're going to do the plank bridge, then they're going to go through the jangled up ropes over there..."

"The rope tunnel."

"Right." The bat answered to Master Hand's correction. "And then they're gonna transfer over all the sandbags."

"Alright, perfect!" He 'smirked.'

"Master, I do believe that we can take on any of these obstacles with ease." Ghirahim nodded with complete confidence.

"You _might_, but the objective is to beat the knights in this challenge." He stated. "Especially since in this case scenario, the _knights_ are the ones that have the advantage after you two were just pointed out to be the two strongest castaways in your tribe."

The tall man whispered to Freddy. "We will beat them. Okay?"

"Alright..."

"So Luigi, what did you and Rouge choose for yourselves?"

"Uh,..." He eyed each of the obstacles one-by-one, his index finger also getting involved like Rouge's. "we're gonna go for the beam over the water. Um, then we are gonna go through the net tube, and then we're gonna do the eight piece slide puzzle to finish."

_"In all honesty, we found the two person track to be slightly easier then going over the beam over the water, which is obviously a huge risk because one of us could easily fall in the water." Rouge confessed. "However, at that time, I told Luigi that we needed to prove a point to the emperors that us knights shouldn't be underestimated just because the emperors won a few things in life. Taking a risk in the first reward challenge of the season couldn't have hurt anything too dramatically."_

Now at that point, the four competitors from their respective tribes were standing directly in front of the first of their own set of obstacles.

"Alright, so here we go. It is our _first_ challenge of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. For reward, survivors ready?"

All four of them immediately got in position to start.

"..._**GO!**_"

And off they went, their teams cheering them on almost instantly.

"Ghirahim and Freddy getting right to work on that bridge as they start to carry pieces over!" Then Master Hand shifted to the knights. "Rouge and Luigi making quick work using that rope to get across that beam that is over the water. It's simple. All you gotta do is make sure you don't fall!"

"Please don't fall, guys..." said Sheik out of slight nervousness with a blink.

"Rouge making it look like she's done this all her life! Luigi not doing too bad himself." The host then took a glance back to the emperors. "Ghirahim and Freddy communicating rather well."

"Don't give up, emperors!" shouted an optimistic Pac-Man clapping his hands together.

"Alright, Rouge and Luigi are finishing up and are getting ready to move onto the net tube." Although he was acknowledging the knights' progress, at the same time, it was basically a warning to the emperors. "Ghirahim and Freddy although not exactly through with their first obstacle, they're not panicking."

"Keep it going! Keep it going!" Knuckles had his hands over his mouth.

"Alright, put this piece over there." Ghirahim told Fazbear as he did just that.

"Freddy and Ghirahim are finally through the first obstacle and are about to go through the rope tunnel!"

Shulk began to clap as well out of respect for their progress. "Keep it up, guys. You're still in this!"

Although, the rope tunnel was clearly easier said than done. Ropes all over the area with two large men never helped. At that time, the two figured that it was the most likely reason it was picked for them to complete by Rouge and Luigi.

Speaking of them, Rouge happened to be almost flying through the net tube. Luigi might have been a bit behind, yet the amount of effort he was putting into it said it all.

"Rouge is almost free! Luigi pushing at his absolute hardest to get through it!"

In spite of getting slightly tangled a couple times, Freddy and Ghirahim never stopped pushing to make it through their second obstacle.

"You can do it, guys!" Peach cheered on.

"Rouge is through the net tube... Luigi is through their net tube!" Master Hand announced. "Now they're moving onto the eight piece slide puzzle. Even though slide puzzles can be a bit complicated, they could go pretty quickly."

"Did you want to do it?"

"I guess I could try..."

"Luigi is going to take over for the puzzle! ...Freddy is through the rope tunnel and he's pulling Ghirahim out!"

Quite a few members of their tribe cheered on.

"Even though they don't have to complete a puzzle, then still have to transfer thirty sandbags from one platform to another." Hand restated the objective of their final part of the challenge. "However, worse case scenario that it might be too little, too late for the emperors..."

"Freddy, you can just toss them and I will place them down!"

"Try moving that piece over there..."

"It's almost done..."

"Luigi thinks he has it..."

The knights all watched. Fortunately for them, Luigi was quickly able to pull out the biggest piece of the puzzle, officially completing their obstacle course, immediately causing the rest of their tribe to cheer louder than ever.

"Luigi completes the puzzle! Rouge is already on her way to slide down the bowsprit as this challenge is officially over!"

And with that being said, Rouge the Bat quickly untied the knot before the shelter making kit came plummeting down, making a giant splash in the water.

"_**KNIGHTS WIN**_**_ REWARD!_**"

Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Greninja, Krystal, Bonnie, Cloud, Sheik, and Foxy were all as excited as ever. Obviously whether it was for immunity or not, being victorious of the first challenge of a Survivor season was something special for the team.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, the emperors, although felt as if they had to suffer through a set back, at least some of them felt that it was not the end of the world.

-/-

"So Luigi, typically even though the knights can work just as hard as the emperors, the emperors are usually the ones that are more victorious. Yet this time, you and Rouge had the favor based on the decision you two made."

"Well, if I was honest here, I can't believe that I've actually done _all_ of those obstacles." He had to laugh a little. "I was actually extremely hesitant to be right over the water by making across that beam, fearing the absolute worst. But we both managed to pull it off, as well as the rest of the course altogether."

Rouge placed a hand on his shoulder. "We did good. _Really_ good."

"On the other hand," The emperors were back in the spotlight. "Ghirahim, Freddy, you guys are typically the ones dominating in life, but in the end, you both have been defeated."

"Oh, we fear not, master." Although coming in last, Ghirahim's smirk was still there as he shook his head. "Like they say: they may have won the battle, but we certainly haven't lost the war."

"Game on." Rouge commented with a simple nod, not even a single look at her opponents.

_"Losing the first challenge was of course frustrating. However, I can not hold a grudge against my opponents. Perhaps it was destined for them to win." Ghirahim said. "Therefore, I see no reason to be bitter. We will all witness what will occur when we all compete for immunity."_

"Alright, emperors. Freddy, Ghirahim, Shulk, Shadow, Zelda, Marth, Peach, Roy, Mega Man, Pac-Man, your tribe name is _Nago_. Here is a map to your new home and you will all be getting your _red_ buffs. Head on out."

After Master Hand tossed the necessary items to the tribe, the knights awaited for their turn to come.

"Knights, congratulations. You earned your advance shelter making kit. Rouge, Luigi, Foxy, Krystal, Sheik, Bonnie, Greninja, Shovel Knight, Cloud, Knuckles, your tribe name is _Chatan_ where you will all be getting _yellow_. Here is a map to your new home and buffs. Head on out."

"Both of your rafts are waiting for you, but watch out for the rain." Master Hand warned. "This is going to be a _wet_ season. Good luck. For one of the twenty of you, this is the start to your 39 day, million day adventure."

Both teams were already leaping off the ship one by one as they all headed out to their respective rafts.

_"It's Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" Pac-Man was as cheerful as he ever was. "You know, I don't think it really mattered to me whether I was put on the emperors tribe or not. I'm still taking in the fact that I am on the show! It's not everyday that you get to be on here. So of all the adventures I've been in, this might be without a doubt the greatest adventure of my life!"_

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**(In case you haven't noticed at this point for any new readers for the series, italics means that the characters are having a confessional.)**

**Now due to my writing style evolving alone, I already find this to be a much better first chapter than Kodai Island (now looking back at it, I think that it's kind of rushed but that's okay because that happened literally a year ago lol).**

**Alright, so I actually wanted to get the challenge out the way before I elaborate of how the tribes are. Basically now that I look at it, it's basically a combination of Survivor - Worlds Apart and Survivor - David vs Goliath (come to think of it this idea was created around the same time David vs Goliath started to air so what a coincidence I guess). The emperors tribe is sort of a combination of the white collar tribe in Worlds Apart and the Goliath tribe in David vs Goliath, which means that the knights tribe is a combination of the David tribe from David vs Goliath and the blue collar tribe from Worlds Apart. That's actually kind of interesting I'll admit. The opening challenge itself was supposed to be the one from Millennials vs Gen X, but it got scrapped last minute because I like the David vs Goliath challenge as it fits this season a little more.**

**But anyway hope you liked this chapter! I will be posting two chapters a week every Wedesneday and Saturday.**

**Questions: (You can answer these in your reviews as well as adding your own thoughts. Oh, by the way, those of you who haven't read Kodai Island, I recommend actually not looking at the other reviews or else you'll be heavily spoiled lol, but those who have seen it, you are absolutely free to talk about the events of that Survivor fic! I actually want you all to because it's fun to talk about both that fic and this fic that's going on.)**

**1\. Early thoughts on the tribes and any characters in particular?**

**2\. Who are you personally rooting for this season? (I will have a poll about that later after the first character goes)**

**3\. What do you think the boot order would be? (I know I already asked this question in the pre-show but I want to get the chance for the people that are just now finding this series a chance to post theirs. Basically predict who will go first to who might win this season.)**

**Now before I go I have a couple thing to say here, mainly for the newbies. I have a YouTube intro for this season. (Would post a link here but Fanfiction won't let us do that, so just type in Survivor - Emperors vs Knights in the search bar and you will see my channel come up.) Check it out if you'd like!  
**

**The winner pick poll for this season is still up on my profile so you can vote for whoever. So far, Luigi is in the lead with Knuckles and Rouge both tied for second place. (Note: Polls aren't available on the mobile version of this site)**

**Now for those of you who are just now finding out what Survivor is and want to actually see the real show, PM me and I am open to fill anyone in! The entire series is on the CBS website. (Though it's a paid subscription service just so you know.)**

**Well, that's all I have to say here. So next chapter, we will officially start on day one! See you all on Saturday!**


	2. Chapter 2: Day 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 2 - Day 1

**Alright, welcome back to Survivor - Emperors vs Knights and on a Saturday as promised!**

**So after the opening, the goal for today is to simply get through the first of day of the thirty-nine adventure over here. I'm starting with the emperors tribe first and then with the knights tribe afterwards. (At this point I'm just now realizing I don't cover nights that much besides right after a certain person is voted off, so that's gonna change this season. Dunno about this chapter but definitely the next.)**

**So here's how this is going to work for those of you who are new. We already got the introductory chapter out the way. Now it's time for me to cover the first day, then the next time where it's gonna include days two and three (including the first immunity challenge) and then the first vote off at chapter four. I feel like some Survivor stories just jump right to the first immunity challenge within like ten minutes out of nowhere. There is no way I'm gonna rush this, so this will be filled with strategizing, general socialization, the survival aspect, the overall adventure, and character development.**

**...Okay surprisingly I don't have that much more to say here. (Probably because of me explaining everything in the first chapter.) So I guess we can just jump right into it. (Oh, and one more thing. Nago's camp is basically Sumasshu's camp from last season lol. And Chatan's camp is Bokushingu's.)**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors _(Nago)_**

**Day 1**

* * *

"Just a little more." Marth told his team. "Our home is just up ahead."

He, Shadow, Peach, Ghirahim, Shadow, Freddy, Roy, Pac-Man, Shulk, and Mega Man were just now approaching their camp, due to the red tribe flag giving a signal to the group. Moments later, Ghirahim leaped off the raft so that he and others could help pull it in.

_"Nothing wrong with trying something new for a change." He smirked out of anticipation. "I sort of asked my comrades back in Altea if I should travel here to play Survivor, and the decision was unanimous for me to head out here to compete, so I appreciate everyone from my kingdom for allowing me to apply for the competition for this amazing opportunity."_

Peach was taking a glance up at the sky. "Hmm... Okay, day one and it's already cloudy a little. Hopefully it doesn't rain on the first day over here..."

"Well that means that we all know what's our first priority." Shulk personally had a fire in mind. "However, maybe I guess we can start on the shelter. But first, why don't we all do the usual on the show and introduce ourselves?"

"Oh, no problem!" Peach grinned back at the Heir to the Monado. "I'm Peach Toadstool!"

It was Shulk's turn to smirk. "Nice. I'm Shulk. Nice to meet you."

_"Apparently I am classified as an emperor this season. And after listening to the master's words, I assume that it does in fact make sense. __Following the unfortunate death of my father, I knew that it was my duty to take charge and lead an army of my own to save Altea, and I assume that is the reason I was put onto this tribe." Marth hypothesized. "And even though Survivor is clearly nothing like what I had to do in real life, based on what the theme is going to be this season, if my back is against the wall, I will find a way to push through in any way I can, just like how I pushed through with my army to save my kingdom."_

Shulk then pointed at Fazbear. "..._Freddy_, right?"

He grinned. "Yeah, that's me."

"What do you do?"

"Well, I work at a pizza place." Before his fellow tribe members could give a reaction, the anthropomorphic animal decided to add on a major detail. "But it was close to bankrupt a numerous amount of times."

"Oh, darn..." Roy blinked. "What was going on?"

"Well, it's sort of a long story to say the least." Freddy rolled his eyes, not wanting to visit the past at the time. "But hey, at least in the long run things got better than ever, so I guess that is why I'm out here."

_"So I own this pizza place back where I come from, and I gotta say..." Freddy's head shake with a half grin said it all. "it wasn't easy. I mean, it was fine when it first started, but quickly things became so severe to the point where I honestly felt like giving up, and at this point I don't even know how many times I felt that way. Of course I won't go into detail, but I had to fight in order to stay alive back there or else my business would have been done. But at least I got it together, and now there's establishments all across the country."_

"And you made it through, did you not?"

"I did." Freddy nodded to Zelda. "And sometime later that was when people started to constantly ask me everyday when I was going to apply to be on Survivor. Even the customers started talking to me about it."

_"You know, back on the ship I was wondering on why was I put on this tribe instead of the Knights team." He had to admit. "But then I realized that I didn't ever have to fight to get **back** on my feet, I just had to fight to make sure I stayed alive, and then things to continued to get better for me eventually and now people from everywhere know my name. And I guess now I'm on Survivor. Who would've thought?"_

"Alright, who hasn't spoken yet..." Shulk took a look around and saw a boy with red hair raise his hand. "Oh okay I guess it's your turn. ..._Roy_, right?"

"Mmm-hmm." He answered with a large smile.

"What do you do?"

"Well, to put it briefly, I'm an eighteen year old swordsman."

...

Literally the entire tribe was stunned.

"...No way..." Mega Man blinked in a jaw dropping expression.

"Seriously?" Ghirahim blinked as well, though he had a slight dose of confusion that started to show. "...Swordsman? ...You are _merely_ a boy..."

"Yeah." Roy nodded in response owning up to it. "I had to fight so I could help my country. My father was ill, so I had no other choice."

_"I am aware that it's not everyday where an adolescent such as myself fights with a sword to protect his country, though that was the case for me." Roy began to elaborate. "Typically it was my father's job of course, since he was the leader. But then he became very ill at the time, so I was called from home in order to fight and take his place. I had to help prevent the continent from suffering from a war. It has already happened once in the past, and neither my father, nor myself was willing to simply let it happen again."_

"How long have you been fighting?" a curious Pac-Man asked.

"Quite a while now..." Roy answered. "Yet since eighteen is the legal limit, I am basically a young adult. Thus, it does not matter as much as it used to."

_"**Technically**, my adventure began when I was fifteen. I was still studying back in the day on swords, and then I was called up to fight before I even turned sixteen years of age. Now I have told them about the war aspect. But do I plan on spilling the beans about my true age when I first started?" Roy asked no one in particular. "Of **course** not. It is already a risky move spilling the beans about the fact that I am eighteen years old alone. I have no intentions on making myself that big of a target out here."_

"Awww..." Peach immediately stepped up to the younger castaway of the group to embrace him. "What a brave young man. I don't know if I should feel sorry for you or feel proud of what you did."

"Both is fine!"

"Hmm..." Unfortunately for the group, Shadow the Hedgehog decided that it was a perfect opportunity for him to change topics after he shot a glance up at the sky. "I don't mean to kill the mood over here, but the sky is rather unpredictable. It is our best interests to begin work around here."

Although a few eyes stared in his direction, as a group, the tribe agreed in a variety of ways.

"Oh, of course." Shulk said as he began to walk. "Since the knights already have that shelter making kit, it's obvious that we have to start our shelter as early as possible. What kind of tools do we have?"

-/-

With a slam of the axe against bamboo thanks to Ghirahim, the Emperors tribe was working long and hard on the shelter. They eventually came to a group decision that the majority of them were to start working to get a roof over their heads while at least a couple others would begin search for the water well. As for the fire, a few members of the red team wanted to at least attempt at a fire before noon.

For Pac-Man in particular, he initially was just getting ready to head out with his canteen, however, he ended up eyeing Mega Man instead.

"..."

The blue bomber was busy helping out collecting the already chopped down bamboo with Roy by placing them on the ground so that they were ready to be picked by whoever so that they can start the process of 'making the bed.'

"..."

At the time, Shadow, Freddy, and Ghirahim were busy placing down said bamboo on the structure that was already built as a base.

"So when do you two think is the most appropriate time to split the bamboo?"

"We'll decide when it's the right time much later." Shadow responded to Freddy. "We are already building as much as we can for the shelter. Splitting the bamboo in the process we'll take double the amount of time. Perhaps when there is a day of low activity."

"Okay..."

Pac-Man's eyes then resorted from staring at the three to Marth and Shulk who were busy communicating with each other as they came back with firewood.

"..."

"Mind enlightening me about this 'Heir to the Monado?'" Marth turned behind him smirking.

"Sure thing." Shulk replied as he eventually caught up with the blue-haired legend of Altea. "You want the short version or the long version?"

He then looked ahead. "Considering on the amount of time we have out here, I wouldn't mind hearing the full story."

Next thing Pac-Man knew, his eyes were once again back at Mega Man.

"Alright, Pac-Man, I'm ready." Zelda suddenly approached him. "I have the map over here so we would not get lost. ...?"

"..." After a couple more moments, he finally acknowledged the Hyrulian standing behind him. "We might need extra help just in case."

His hands were then over his mouth. "Hey, Mega Man!"

He stopped what he was doing and immediately stared in his direction.

"I think we need one more person to help get water with us. Did you wanna go?"

"Well, I,..." His head turned to face Roy.

"Go on ahead." Roy apparently had no problems with him leaving. "Peach needs a pair of extra hands when it comes to weaving the palm fronds, anyway."

"Alright, then..."

_"I think that Mega Man is a good person." Pac-Man assumed with the largest smile. "We're both good heroes based on where we're at. I eat ghosts to save everyone, and he apparently makes sure that everyone can get along where he lives at so that both humans and robots can be at peace. But the thing that stands out the most is that both of our names have the word 'Man' in it. What a coincidence! Not that it is super important or anything, but I have a feeling that me and Mega would get along great!"_

"Hmm... According to the map, the water well should be just up ahead..."

Zelda was leading Mega Man and Pac-Man through a forest along the pathway en route to Nago's water well, each holding five canteens each as Zelda continue to hold the map.

Pac-Man, however, decided to take advantage of the situation by whispering to Mega Man, even to go as far as purposefully distance himself away from Zelda slightly to decrease her chances of hearing, especially given the fact that she was distracted by the map of the camp.

"Psst! Mega Man!"

"..." Mega Man's glance back was nothing but a blink, even though he had a million things to reply to Pac-Man given the circumstances, he ended up saying absolutely nothing.

As a result, his fellow emperor continued on with his whispering. "Isn't it cool that both of our names have 'man' in it?"

"...I guess...?"

"I think that it is really great!" The smile all over his face expressed his excitement. "It's cool that we're on the same tribe together! I don't know about you, but I definitely see us two moving forward.

"..."

"Wanna be in alliance?"

"..." Mega Man almost instantly widened his eyes.

_"I do not know what exactly Pac-Man is thinking." Mega Man shook his head with honesty. "but I doubt it is the best idea to work with someone just because his name has the word 'man' in it. Not the smartest idea I myself would come up with. As a matter of fact, I'm really not aligned with anyone right now. But then again, I didn't approach Pac-Man. Pac-Man approached me first, and of course it's clearly the only reason why he called me so that I can help him and Zelda find the water well. So with that being said, if Pac-Man somehow trusts me for whatever reason, he trusts me, which is good for my game because now I have an option to work with and that if he finds out about anything, then at least I would know what is going on."_

"I mean, I just think that if we could work together, we could do many, many great things!"

"...I see what you're saying." Mega Man finally responded verbally. "Maybe it's something that I would consider. But for now, let's just get back to Zelda before she catches us talking like this..."

"Oh, okay!" Pac-Man nodded with his innocent beaming look as Mega Man chose to walk ahead, just in case if Zelda turned around at the wrong moment, he and Pac would not have been as close together as possible.

_"The downside to it is that the last thing I want to do is distance myself from the rest of the tribe. I can't just hang around Pac-Man alone, especially in the very beginning of the game on day one, because that will make both of us the first targets out here. Getting booted out first isn't exactly what I have in mind..."_

-/-

"I just didn't know you were a swordsman as well! It's just that it's quite obvious who's older, haha!"

Roy seemed to be in the middle of a conversation with Marth as they were both now helping Peach with weaving the palm fronds at least until Zelda came back with Mega Man and Pac-Man.

"Well," said the swordsman with blue hair. "this simply means that if you ever have any sort of question in regards to sword play, I am always here. Something tells me that we might live very close to each other, anyway."

"I don't know if I could even hold a sword properly." Peach commented. "Let alone use it. But I guess maybe it's something that I could at least try out just to know what it feels like."

"Trust me." Marth laughed a little. "It's much easier to hold one than you might think. That is, if you begin getting used to the weapon you're using."

"It's rather rare where I come from. In the Mushroom World, we're more used to Super Mushrooms and Fire Flowers."

"I..." To Marth Lowell, he did not know what to make of that. "...No offense, but to me that sounds sort of... _whimsical_..."

She laughed with a warm, friendly smile. "I guess it's an opportunity for all of us here to step out of our comfort zones and try different things. Maybe we should make arrangements in the future so that we can meet."

"Good idea."

"Speaking of good ideas..."

-/-

_**WHACK!**_

"Just like that. Now let me see you giving it a shot."

Peach's good idea was to have a couple of her tribemates show her the process of breaking open a coconut with the machete that came with their tool kit. Once Shulk demonstrated, it was then the woman's turn to have a go at it herself.

"Alright. Here I go..." Yet the moment she began to swing, her head turned a bit to Shulk, who was accompanied with Marth and Roy. "Oh, before I start, I'm afraid I have to warn you. I'd rather not slice up one of your fingers. We need all the help we can get in the challenges."

"Oh, don't worry about that!" Roy shared a laugh with her, Marth even chuckling a little bit as well. "I have to learn exactly how to do it, anyway."

And so, she began to slice.

"Not bad at all if I do say so myself." Shulk stepped up to Toadstool in order to give her a visual presentation of certain details of the task. "It's really great for a first timer."

_"I have a lot to learn out here." She giggled happily. "When I told everyone back in the Mushroom Kingdom that I was going to apply for Survivor, no one could believe it. They never expected a woman like me to be out here. But believe it or not, that's my whole thing. I think people generally perceive me as this sweet, loving 'princess' that doesn't like to get her dress all dirty. Now I am on a reality show with conditions like this. One would think that I would probably quit on day one as soon as I stepped foot on the island."_

Zelda eventually found the group of four in the area. "...Hmm... You know, perhaps after Peach is done here maybe I could have a go..."

_"The news about me coming out here quickly spread around like spilled milk. I can not even begin to describe how many times people have come up to me to give me a warning about what I was getting myself into to the point where people thought they could convince me to reconsider. But there was no way I was backing out. I applied for the show anyway, got called in for an interview as I apparently made the short list, and here I am stranded on Kodai Island with nineteen other strangers. Long story short, though people may think that I am very out of place out here, one thing I like to do is to try new things, and Survivor is no different. Even if I don't win, I have no reason to be bitter. As long as I came out here to prove that I am more than just a girly girl that doesn't like to get her hands dirty, that's all that matters. So, I think I'm going to have so much fun!"_

Unbeknownst to them, Ghirahim was watching from afar.

_"As far as my strategy is concerned, at this moment on day one, I find myself laying low and observe as if I was a fly on the wall to be my best interest. Judging on what I have witnessed thus far, it seems that people seem to be already naturally grouping together this early on, which is to be expected of course."_

It was now Zelda's turn to attempt at breaking open a coconut. "Okay, this might be a rather, unwise question, but does it matter if I hold the coconut in my hands or just leave it on the ground and cut from there?"

"Any way works, I suppose." Shulk shrugged his shoulders. "But since this is presumably your very first time doing something like this, I'd strongly suggest you leave it on the ground so that you are less likely to hurt yourself."

_"Since out of all of us, Shulk seems to be the one leading the tribe due to his 'Survivor research', but that's a side point. People are grouping up fairly quickly here, and the more they connect and have general conversations with one another, eventually that leads into an alliance. Yet at this moment, it is best to keep my mouth shut and talk later... until I figure out who is mainly talking to whoever on this tribe and then I will begin working my magic."_

* * *

**Knights _(Chatan)_**

**Day 1**

* * *

"Well, here we are!"

Shovel Knight as well as the rest of the Knights tribe were elated as ever as they all were finally able to reach their camp. Observing the tribe flag in the distance said it all, as it was basically an official signal to the players that their adventure had officially began.

They wasted no time at all when they each got off their raft and reeled it in. Next thing they knew, they were observing said flag as a few of them began to converse.

_"It is as if it was a dream that finally came true!" He said. "I've been on adventures before, so this is basically next in line. Earning the title of Sole Survivor is quite a big accomplishment one could have, and so it brought me out here. There is not one particular aspect that I am looking for. I want to do everything. Being part of a tribe, camp life, working in challenges,... and unfortunately voting people out of the tribe in order so that I can progress further. ...But no matter. As of now, it is the right time to get to know the people that I will be living with for a long period of time."_

"Well, first things first," He turned to Rouge and Luigi. "great job with the challenge today! I think the both of you really sent a message to the emperors!"

"Aw, thanks..." Rouge turned to Shovel Knight with a brief smirk. "I was just trying to prove a point out there. I suggested to Luigi that we should do the beam over the water over that two person track to show the emperors that we are not ones to be messed with."

"Well you two sure did a good job at it!" Bonnie grinned. "I betcha half of us thought that you two were gonna fall back into the water."

"That would have been, uh..." Luigi nervously scratched his head at the memory. "rather embarrassing. I was almost jumping out of my skin when Rouge suggested that we do that. But,... if you ignore the water then it's actually not that bad..."

Shovel Knight placed a hand on his back. "Perhaps it was out of your comfort zone, but you overcame your fears and the both of you were victorious. You handled that slide puzzle as if it was nothing!"

"Uh, thanks!" His showed a genuine grin.

_"The funny thing is that both me and my brother Mario applied for the show." He elaborated. "We were both chosen, but they said that they wanted to get Mario out of the way first and save me for this new theme they are doing. Apparently I am supposed to be the perfect underdog here because of my own personal story. Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, people typically don't see me and my brother as two different people. They always perceive me as 'Mario's brother', or at worst 'the guy who is always in his older brother's shadow', or my personal favorite, 'green stache', which of course no younger sibling wants to hear. So I think that if I can do something out here, then perhaps people from back home will see me in a different light."_

"So he was on last season just before this?"

He nodded to Shovel Knight. "Yes. If my brother was here, he would have without a doubt been on the emperors tribe. Long story short, I was put on here so that I could challenge myself so people can look at me differently by the time I'm done here."

"Well, welcome to Survivor then!" Sheik spread her arms out. "I'm pretty sure we all came here due to our own personal stories."

"So what should we do first?" asked Krystal.

"Perhaps a little exploring wouldn't hurt." Shovel Knight was the first to come up with an idea. "We need to find the water well around here and we need to get used to our surroundings. But maybe after a few minutes or so we could start on the shelter, since we won the tool kit for a reason. Maybe it's probably also where we get treemail."

_"I noticed that sometime on Survivor, there are castaways that don't tell their tribemates everything for the sake of their own lives in the game. But for me, I had no problems telling them how much I am an underdog compared to my brother. One thing that I need to work on is how to open up to people. I was socially awkward growing up and to this day it kind of still happens. I guess being with all these strangers here will put me to the test. If there is one thing that I know about the game, communication is everything. So if I start to feel nervous that my name is being tossed around behind my back for whatever reason, I need to find some people that will help me out so I can avoid having my torch snuffed at Tribal Council."_

-/-

The ten knights were in the middle of the woods, following along a pathway as Shovel Knight took the lead, with the map in his hands as he led the tribe to wherever the water well was. Water was obviously necessary when it came to survival, and they wanted their canteens to be filled as soon as possible.

Cloud Strife was in the very back of the group, a few steps away from Knuckles and Krystal. However, he never had the most satisfied look on his face.

_"Shovel Knight decided that as a group, we should begin our search for the water well in order to have a head start in staying hydrated for the sake of our first immunity challenge. ...Honestly, I was not the happiest of the bunch when the group agreed to his plan." He shook his head. "But I chose not to say anything for the sake of my butt not being on the line simply for disagreeing with the yellow team. For me personally, I'd rather begin immediate work on the shelter. We've literally won the reward of the shelter making kit specifically for our tribe, and no one took the advantage of the time we had. ...However, since it is only the first day, I have to adapt to whatever the tribe does as a whole... It's slightly irritating at most, but I will try my absolute hardest to put up with it."_

_"Nonetheless, where I come from, I am used to voicing my own personal opinions. And if I continue to keep my mouth shut as if I do not have a voice, that makes me feel even more agitated. Knowingly in a game like this, if I just outright express my personal thoughts of the matter, then I am public enemy number one. Thus, I must be subtle about it simply to vent."_

Cloud then found himself wandering closer to Knuckles, since at that point Krystal began to walk slightly faster than the echidna. Tapping on the shoulder, he turned around, yet his feet never stopped moving.

"Eh, no offense or anything," Strife started. "but I doubt this is the best decision at the moment. I'd rather get started on the shelter as soon as possible, and maybe send out a few of us to look for the water well."

"Watch your step over here." Sheik's voice sounded from near the front of the group.

"Hmm..." Knuckles was smart enough to whisper. "You... Okay, I gotta admit. You have a valid point there. I guess they all never thought of it that way."

"I mean," Cloud's head start shaking side to side with hands to his sides. "it makes sense. It is not exactly a sunny day out here in Japan and we already have the shelter making kit to our advantage. Why not get it started already?"

"I dunno man..." Knuckles shrugged with his own head shake. "Maybe everyone just wanted to spend time with each other as a tribe or somethin'..."

-/-

Fortunately for Strife, work began a few minutes afterwards as Shovel Knight promised. As he was hammering away, Greninja and Sheik were busy gathering firewood somewhere in the forest.

The former grinned.

"...What?" Sheik smirked back.

"Oh, nothing." He chortled a little. "I just can't believe that my _name_ is Greninja and you're actually a ninja here."

"I know, right?" She took her turn to laugh. "Maybe it was meant for the both of us to be on the same tribe together. Even though I doubt you do that much 'ninja-like' stuff (no offense), but I bet I could teach you a thing or two about what I do and what my life is like."

"I'm all over it." He was more than happy. "Who knows? Maybe I would work for someone special back in my world for some 'undercover' business."

Sheik knew it was a joke, yet at the same time it could have been a legitimate reality for her teammate. "Well, you're going to be on um, _television_ months after this is done. Hopefully you get a phone call so that you can get an opportunity."

_"Me and Greninja have quite a few things in common." The female stated the obvious. "He's a nice guy. Very friendly, open, and pretty smart. He's already told me that he's kind of a fan of the show, so that means he's seen way more seasons than I did since 'technology' sort of doesn't exist in Hyrule. So it's a win-win. I teach him about different ninja activities that I'm used to, and he can teach me of the moves some people made in Survivor history. Pretty great person to have. ...Not just about alliances, but he's generally a good person... or **Pokemon** to talk to. I can easily see us being friends outside of this game."_

"Hey, can I ask you something though?"

"Ask me anything."

"..." She began to laugh a little louder. "Well, now that I know of how Pokemon and the trainers work and all, how did you convince him to bring you out here?"

"Oh..." That was when he shook his head. "I didn't convince him. He signed me up."

The Sheikah immediately widened her eyes. "..._What_?"

_"Me and my trainer had um, been through a lot ever since we got together back in the day..." He all of a sudden grew silent. "Um,... ugh, I am trying my absolute hardest to not get emotional on the first day, but if I'm going to talk about it, I think now is the right time just to let it all out there. Back... when I was a newborn, both of my parents were nowhere to be found and I was actually half frozen to death. It was the month of January when he found me, and I was struggling in the snow. I... could barely even move... But, h-he found me and then took me in. I... I know he's still a kid, but I feel like I'm a son to him somehow, when my biological parents are most likely not even... I... All I can say is that without Calem I don't think I'll be here."_

"Awww..." Sheik honestly had no idea how to react.

"But hey, I'm still here right?" Greninja immediately glanced at the positive. He did not had the desire to be too emotional at the time. "I'll make sure you meet him soon."

_"After some time, we became inseparable. This is one of the rarest times I was ever truly separated from him like this. I... Even though he literally was the one who signed me up for casting call, I still feel a little selfish about it only because he didn't have to do it. I wasn't even thinking about applying for the show even though I thought that someday maybe I had what it takes to be the Sole Survivor out here. But hey, I am on Survivor and if I win, it's not for me, but for Calem as well. I'm a knight and he's the emperor as far as I'm concerned."_

"Let's just get back to the camp." The frog-like Pokemon suggested. "Something tells me that for a while this will be our last time talking to each other like this."

* * *

**Alright, so I think that just about does it for day one. Yes, I am aware that not every single castaway got screen time today. I was actually struggling to decide if I should end the chapter here or not, especially since I really wanted to add more to the Knights tribe but I guess we'll have to wait until chapter three. No big deal though since it's only day one lol. I was actually going to type up other things in mind for the Knights tribe, but I figured that it was just a bit too early, so I guess this will have to do for now.**

**Nonetheless, we got the first day out the way. One day down, only thirty-eight more to go lol. And as you can see, quite a bit happened today. We got a few people explaining their backstories of why they came on Survivor, both tribes are working hard on the shelter whether one tribe had the advantage of the shelter making kit or not, and a bit of strategy going on. People are generally getting along on both tribes, but both Ghirahim and Cloud are raising some questions marks early. Not even Shadow the Hedgehog seems to be causing that much trouble at the moment and that's saying something lol. (He literally only had _one_ line hahaha! He'll get more shortly.)**

**Questions: (These might be simple but I'm gonna ask anyway.)**

**1\. What do you think of the Emperors tribe?**

**2\. What do you think of the Knights tribe?**

**3\. What alliances do you think will possibly be made?**

**4\. Are there any castaways in particular that stood out to you in this chapter?**

**Watch the "Emperors vs Knights" intro on YouTube and vote on your winner pick if you haven't already and I will see you all next week!**


	3. Chapter 3: Day 2 & Day 3 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 3 - Day 2 & Day 3 Part 1

**(_Edit: This chapter turned out to be way longer than expected...)_**

**Okay, here comes the second week of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. And this time is going to cover day 2 (including night 1) and then part of day 3 including the first immunity challenge. And then afterwards, one of these twenty people will officially be voted off the island. But before all that takes place, we need to focus on the tribes a little more, especially since we're going to cover night one today.**

**Okay, surprisingly once again I don't have that much to say here, but I'm gonna do a quick recap: everyone reveals their stories in some way (whether it be in their confessional or each other), Pac-Man wants to be in alliance with Mega Man, Greninja and Sheik are getting along well, Ghirahim is already getting suspicious, and Cloud thinks the tribe's priorities aren't in order.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Night 1**

* * *

The team's prediction was indeed correct. As a group, they were all aware of the fact that it was set to rain on Kodai Island. None of them were simply aware of exactly the time it was going to start.

And it just so happened to be on the first night. Yet in spite of their own predictions, it was not as if the emperors were elated about the precipitation that was pouring down on themselves and the shelter.

With the exceptions of Shadow the Hedgehog and Ghirahim, everybody sat close together on the bamboo, either staring at the rain that sat in front of them, or attempting at keeping themselves warm.

"Well,... at least we were right when we said that it was going to happen soon..." Peach of all people wanted to look at the bright side of things, even showing a smile to keep the spirit. Yet inside, she knew that it was a rather difficult challenge to keep the entire tribe happy, even if she and Pac-Man were combined, even though the two most positive people on the tribe could not have ignored the negatives when it came to the rain.

Roy was thinking of the firewood that sat beneath the shelter as he finally responded to Peach's comment. "It was a good idea to quickly move that firewood, or else it would have cost us a ton of time collecting it again. Do we have flint?"

"No." Shadow shook his head bluntly.

"That's a bummer." The boy responded as he hung his head down. "We can't use it when we all rise up tomorrow, then..."

"Well, flint these days is almost always the first reward after the first immunity challenge." said Shulk. "We just need to make sure we win so we can have it. The Knights already have that advanced shelter making kit."

"Exactly." nodded Marth. "Now it is our turn to achieve a victory."

_"I was hoping that we could have a little Survivor party on the first night." Shulk's smile was there, though it was only because of what he initially thought of prior to the storm. "It's not impossible to start a fire without flint, so if we would have had fire, we would have a good time tonight as we all talk about our own experiences applying for the show, past seasons, and everything. Though we can kinda still do it, everyone's not in the best of moods because of this storm that ruined everything, haha! When Master Hand said that this was going to be a wet season, he really meant it, and it's not even day two yet."_

"Hey, you know what?" The Heir to the Monado suddenly spoke. "This is actually a good thing. We're lucky to even have rain because I doubt it rained in the last season of Survivor that much. Full experience, right?"

"Valid point." Shadow replied. "Though it would have been easier for us if we were on the previous season just so our lives would have been easier."

"..." He blinked. "Okay, not wrong there I suppose... But hopefully it'll stop by tomorrow. Our shelter isn't even one hundred percent complete, yet, but at least we already got a good chunk of it done. We're emperors, guys. We can push through this."

"..." Mega Man sighed as his head began to lower. He knew he had to thank Dr. Light that he was one hundred percent waterproof. Otherwise, besides the storm, no water challenges for the blue bomber.

* * *

**Knights**

**Night 1**

* * *

Even with the shelter making kit, it never truly brightened the overall mood of the Knights tribe. Most people were silent, and for the ones that were not were either sighing or grumbling beneath their breath.

"Seriously..." Knuckles blinked his eyes. "It has been raining for hours. We stayed cooped up here before nighttime even arrived here..."

"Yeah, it's safe to say that we might as well just go to sleep." Foxy assumed. "I mean, we've done all we could today. There is no point is trying to get out to do anything for the camp."

"How are we supposed to sleep with loud thunder happening every once in a while?" Sheik thought out loud.

"Oh, don't worry." Shovel Knight unsurprisingly tried to be as hopeful as ever. "I'm pretty sure we all could sleep through it..."

_**BOOM!**_

"...Okaaay..." Shovel Knight blinked. "Perhaps we could still sleep through it somehow..."

"That is quite the challenge." Rouge said. "Maybe an even bigger thing to deal with than the actual rain itself..."

"Well if none of us are going to hit the hay anytime soon, maybe this is a good opportunity to discuss plans for tomorrow." Greninja used the time they currently had to their advantage. "Thanks to the kit Rouge and Luigi earned today, it saved us a ton of time; shelters usually take two to three days to build. However, we still don't have a fire. And since we don't have fire, none of us have been eating anything but a few coconuts, which means that we haven't had the chance to cook rice."

"Exactly." Krystal agreed. "If we don't get a fire going tomorrow, we're all gonna starve to death. Nobody hasn't exactly had that happen to them in Survivor so we'd rather not be the first tribe that dies of starvation here."

"Our best bet is to get up early tomorrow even though we have no idea when we're all gonna fall asleep, knowing that all this is happening..." Greninja suggested to the team.

"Alright, I'm down." Sheik was in on the plan. "I'll somehow force myself on my feet tomorrow."

Cloud Strife meanwhile was one of the couple members of the tribe that was already lying down, as he laid at one of the ends of the shelter, face turned away from the rest of the group.

_"It's a shame that the weather is like this. Now the tribe is planning on being early risers when day two arrives, which is not good for me personally. I was actually already planning on awakening before the rest of the tribe, only because of one certain item in the game. I'm aware that we are only in the early days of the game, but I need to locate the hidden immunity idol as soon as possible. All of that is required of me to do is to sneak away from camp so that I can have enough time. Though due to what I just heard, at this point, I might as well try to get up before sunrise... **if **in fact the sun is visible tomorrow..."_

**_BOOM!_**

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 2**

* * *

True to his word, there was no more Cloud Strife at the camp, even though the man ended up rising a bit later than he hoped. Nonetheless, who could have blamed him? No one brought clocks on Survivor. Besides, his timing was not as bad, due to the rest of the team still sleeping up to almost an hour after he left at the time, and now he was nowhere to be found.

The rest of the members of Chatan ended up getting up out of their sleep one by one.

"Alright..." Greninja rubbed his eyes trying to get as much as the sleep out as possible. Readjusting was typically such a chore. "Let's get the fire started..."

"Let me get the firewood from beneath the shelter..." Bonnie stood on his feet, Knuckles already getting on one knee to help out as well.

Krystal, however, was glancing in all directions. "Hey, guys? ...Where's Cloud?"

As Bonnie and Knuckles both stopped and stared, Luigi then glanced from Krystal, to the shelter, than to the rest of his team as he scratched his head out of confusion. "I dunno... I thought he was here.."

"You... wouldn't think that maybe he's probably getting extra firewood for the fire just in case?" Sheik guessed with a blink. "He was working mighty hard here at camp yesterday..."

"That _may_ be the case..." Shovel Knight had a hand beneath his chin. "But,... what if he was awakened before the rest of the us in order for him to attempt to find the hidden immunity idol?"

...

It was a perfect time for silence to take over the tribe, that was for sure. Everyone ended up glancing at each other just to see each other's reactions, only for them all to be about the same; mostly smirks with some head shakes.

Bonnie happened to be a bit of both, though he ended up adding a sigh to go along with it. "Did he take his shoes with him?"

"Well, whenever he took them off, he always had them beside his bag..." With folded arms, Greninja shifted his eyes towards said bag, which was still in the spot he slept in. "_And _it's still here..."

"Great." Rouge placed both of her hands on her hips with a cocked head and a smirk out of sarcasm. "Idol finding on day two. Just what we needed."

_"Not only am I a spy, but I am also a treasure hunter, and a very good one at that." The anthropomorphic bat enlightened. "However, finding an idol on day two is basically asking for it. You can be the most talented idol finder the show's ever seen, but if you are caught looking for one, or in this case, separating yourself from the rest of the tribe to the point where ones **think** you are looking for one puts a target on your back. And to top it all off, it is the early morning of day two. No Tribal Council, no challenge, and day three hasn't even arrived yet. And the fact that Cloud is most likely, almost **certainly** looking for an idol has just made him anything but trustworthy."_

She rotated her head to see Foxy, still lying down in the shelter. "Foxy boy, let's go. We can split up as the rest of the tribe tries to get a fire started. You go check the beach, while _I_ will check the forest. That's the first place where he would look."

"Alright, I'll get up..." Foxy had to scoot himself to get over the bamboo.

"That forest is large." Sheik began to walk away. "I'll look for him too and perhaps we can both split in the forest."

"The more, the merrier." Rouge nodded in agreement.

_"Apparently Cloud was out looking for an idol, and now the group has someone to talk about." Foxy stated. "Maybe not as far as him actually voting him out of the tribe, but he just shot himself in the foot. I'll admit, I was thinking of searching for an idol myself, but definitely not this early where people are more likely to stay close together rather than separating themselves from the rest of the tribe. But I gotta admit it. At least he actually tried playing it smart by getting up before the rest of us."_

Unlike Rouge and Krystal, it was Foxy that was the one that actually caught Cloud red-handed. If he was not quiet at the time, Cloud would have most likely heard him and pretended he was simply doing something else. Yet it obviously was not the case as Strife found out he was being looked for the hard way.

With one head turn, Foxy Michaels was already five seconds from him. He was definitely not to curse under his breath right in front of the red fox.

He folded his arms by the time he finally met with the swordsman. "Wouldn't the forest be a smarter place to look?"

"I've already checked there about an hour ago, but I never found anything that stood out." He admitted, finally standing tall. "...Do you plan on telling anyone?"

"Uh, hate to break ya, but all eight of 'em kinda already know."

"..._Curses_..."

"Well,..." He shrugged as he started to made his way back to camp, Cloud deciding to might as well join him. "you could either lie well or own up to it to the others."

"I..." He thought for a moment. "I'll make my decision right before we enter the camp again..."

"Better hurry up then. And fast." He said as the two started to make their way along the beach. "I'm not personally saying that you're gonna get votes from them now, but if I were you, at this point if I want to not get booted out the game early, I'd suggest you look for the idol in a more subtle way. 'Cause like, we really need you for challenges."

"I suppose so..." Cloud thought his statement was not in the wrong.

_"I'm not saying that I'm aligning with Cloud, but I'm not saying that I'm not aligning with him either. However, I do know that I have to align with someone. You can't play by yourself in Survivor, and I don't think Cloud is gonna be the type of person that understands that."_

-/-

"What do you think of Shovel Knight?"

"He seems to be a good guy."

"...What do you think of Cloud?"

"Well, at first I really didn't have an opinion on him at all, since we barely talked to each other yesterday. But I don't know what to think of him now."

After Cloud made his confession, Foxy and Bonnie decided to volunteer to collect water for the rest of the tribe while they attempted to get fire going.

_"I think me and Bonnie generally get along well. We do have a couple things in common. For one,... I don't think our backstories are the biggest compared to the rest of the castaways on the island, let alone on this tribe in particular, hahaha! But typically in Survivor in the early days of the game, you just want to see where a person's head is. And Bonnie is up first."_

"Who do you plan on aligning with?"

"I don't know to be honest." Bonnie shewed a bee away. "Right now I'm more focused on who I'm comfortable with. And due to Cloud's idol hunting, even if I do get along with him, I don't think the tribe trusts him at the moment."

"...Am I making you uncomfortable just by talking like this?"

Bonnie added to his laugh. "No, you're not. If anything that's a good thing. You're the first person that came up to me with any sort of strategy so far in this game. What do you think we should do?"

_"Right now I'm trying to play the laid-back kinda guy thing." Bonnie explained his plans. "I'm just gonna let people come up to me at the moment so that they can tell me what they're thinking. Everything they say it's just more information for me so that I can learn over time what to do with it. So far Foxy is strategizing with me a little just so he can know what my plans are, and right now it's all about how the tribe feels overall. But at the moment, I'm just hoping that we can win this first immunity challenge. Things seem to be pretty peaceful, and I don't want it to erupt into chaos if we lose, because then people will be all over the place like we're trying to play musical chairs at Tribal Council."_

"Well, I guess we can just let each other know what's going on." Foxy told him. "I keep you informed of what's going on, and you can keep me informed of what's going on. That way we can have as much info as possible. Deal?"

"Alright, sounds good to me."

The two finally made over to the water well, where on the other hand, after Knuckles and Cloud were seen rubbing the two sticks together to finally start a fire (much to the satisfaction of the tribe), Shovel Knight took the now lit coconut husk and placed it down somewhere as his team members began to add more sticks to it to keep it alive.

"I'll get the rice." Krystal was already making her way over to the supplies.

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 2**

* * *

Just like the knights, the emperors were also successful at getting fire, mainly thanks to Shulk and Freddy applying the same strategy as their opposing team.

An excited Peach Toadstool clapped her hands rapidly at their success. "Great job. Now we just need to make sure we keep the fire going to make sure it doesn't go out. I'll start by adding more wood to it."

"I will go retrieve the rice." Marth lifted a finger. "You all can just keep the fire going. We have barely ate anything since we have been here. Without fire, our day would be a lot more difficult to get through."

Ghirahim had his arms folded. "...Perhaps I should go and collect more firewood and get it out of the way since we're going to use quite a bit of it at the moment."

"I'll go, too." Shulk said.

"Good." Ghirahim nodded as he began to walk. "Freddy, Shadow, you two are rather strong individuals. Both of you can join us."

With Freddy blinking and Shadow simply nodding, off the four of them went.

"Hey Zelda," Peach suddenly said. "I think I finally got a hand of the machete over here!"

"You think?" She asked as she made her way over to the other woman, who was already getting ready to whack away at another coconut. Yet unlike previously, this time she did with just one slice, before she attempted at breaking it open with her bare hands. Though in the end, Zelda had to end up assisting her.

"Ah, there we go." She grinned at her work, even though Zelda helped her in the end. "Maybe I should have just opened it with the machete, but at least I got the hang of handling the machete pretty well, because I'm pretty sure that we're gonna swap and then I have to make sure I contribute something to members of the other team."

"Don't worry." Zelda shook her head with a warm smile. "I'm pretty sure whenever we do swap, the knights would understand that you are just trying to survive out here learning new things."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Peach thought out loud. "Thanks, Zelda."

_"I am quite fond of Peach." Zelda admitted. "I do love how open she was of her experiencing something she never had before. She knows that she isn't used to living in the outdoors, sleeping on bamboo while suffering through a storm, we barely any food or water. She's expressed that women like her are the type that nobody would expect to apply for Survivor. But Peach is and she's working her absolute hardest at the camp despite this experience being completely out of her comfort zone, and she knows that she does not have to prove anything to no one but herself, yet she simply volunteers to do the hardest tasks in the camp just so that she can learn. And that is where she has my upmost respect, as she can inspire others that are in her position to come out here for this adventure."_

"Hey Peach, don't think you are the only one that wants to impress others. Even though I've had some experience with the outdoors due to me traveling, food was already packed back then. Never in my life I ever had to live off the land." Roy admitted. "You're learning things just like I am."

"Same here." Marth added as he came back with the rice.

-/-

While they were gathering in the forest, Ghirahim was already talking.

"It's quite clear we know who the majority is."

All three of them immediately stopped at what they are doing as their six eyes all faced Ghirahim as if a sudden Survivor twist was going to occur.

"...What?" Freddy had no idea what words should have escaped from his mouth.

"Seriously?" Shulk blinked.

"I _am_ serious." Ghirahim was one hundred percent confident on what he was thinking with a quick nod, still breaking down different pieces of wood. "The four of us that are standing in this very area right now are the ones that are on the bottom. It's _clear cut_."

_"It took me only two days in this game to realize exactly who is in the majority alliance." Ghirhaim told. "Even if they are not in an alliance, I'm sure they are planning too. Ever since Roy explained his story, Marth has been close with him ever since. Peach and Zelda clearly get along well. No **question**. Also, I've witnessed Pac-Man interacting with Mega Man quite a bit even though at times he attempts to distance himself from him, and it's not working. But the point, those three pair up, it's 6-4. I mean, look at Survivor - Micronesia."_

"I mean, it was a very similar situation if any of you have seen Survivor - Micronesia." The man continued to talk. "Also, I love how the four of us that are here at this moment are conveniently the four strongest individuals of this tribe, which further adds to my theory, which is most likely a fact. And I can even predict that if were to lose this first challenge,... they would gun for _you_."

"..._Me?_" Shadow hunched an invisible eyebrow.

"Without offense, they would without a doubt see you as the... 'weakest' of us four. I wouldn't even actually blame them. They would wish to remain in the game just as much as we are. If they proceed, afterwards, they would go after Freddy in some possible 'split-vote' plan, I will be next, and they would save Shulk for last in a unanimous vote since he is the doing the most around camp. So for our overall vision, we just need to decide how are we exactly planning on handling the situation."

Shulk's confounded expression never changed one bit.

_"..." He just stared with a single blink, but then he all of sudden began to laugh just a little. "Haha, did I... did I miss something here? I thought we were all one big happy tribe with not even the thought of voting someone off, let alone an already established majority alliance. I'm pretty sure me, Freddy, and Shadow are all thinking the same way. Forget **playing** too hard, too early. Ghirahim is playing like a maniac, basically, haha! I don't think they are all **that **close together. I don't even know if Mega really wants to even align with Pac-Man (even though he potentially could). I mean, though as insane as Ghirahim is acting right now, all I know is that we know that he wants one of those six out. And as long as they're options out there for me personally, that's all that matters for my game in particular."_

"I recommend that we simply hurry up here before they all begin to feel suspicious, but we might want to keep in touch, just to make sure we're all safe. I'll come up with a name for this alliance later."

Without him noticing, there in fact was the occasional glances between Shulk, Freddy, and Shadow.

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 3**

* * *

The following day, the fire was already going, and Zelda was carefully stirring up the rice in the pot. She, as well as the rest of the red team knew that day three was most likely the day the first immunity challenge was going to take place, and they all knew that they had to eat something before it takes place. However, aside from Freddy Fazbear, Zelda was the only one awake at the time. And so, she took the advantage of the time she had and already began to prepare the rice so that it would be done before the other eight people in the shelter arise from their sleep.

Speaking of Fazbear, to pass the time, he told her that he planned on retrieving tree mail for the team.

However, as he thought of himself leaving the camp, Zelda noticed something about Freddy that looked rather off. He had his neutral look in his eyes, but some part of it gave Zelda a vibe that Freddy was actually a bit... nervous.

"...You're okay, Freddy?" She questioned quietly as the bear immediately rotated his head to face her, apparently too busy in his thoughts to think about his surroundings.

He gave an honest sigh. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just worried about how this is gonna play out. That's all."

She just had to give a warm smile. "Don't worry. Everything's going to be fine. I promise you that no one is speaking of you whenever your back is turned. And even if, comments have been nothing but positive."

_"I'm not asking for people to throw a whole pity party just for me, nor am I trying to get sympathy." Freddy wanted to make himself clear. "But in all honesty, I am trying as hard as I possibly can to gel and get along well with the rest of the tribe. I am a boss where I came from, which was why I was put on here. But, I don't want to be the guy who everyone thinks that I'm bossing around everybody and trying to take control of everything. Although at the same time, I feel as if I'm too laid back in terms of the game itself, then people would think that I am not doing anything at all. You never know what conversations people have behind your back, because you can't keep track of nine people twenty-four seven."_

He was seen grabbing an envelope from a urn, representing as the 'treemail' for the camp. Curiosity got the better of him as he already began to open the envelope.

_You know in high school even though people were generally fond of me, I never really cared about fitting in because it was a priority for me. But out here, since you are playing for a million dollars, you **have** to fit in just to stay on the good side of some people in hopes that they will keep you here. I believe that the social game is one of the hardest aspects in Survivor. Like, you have to adapt to pretty much everybody, and at times it's hard to really know what people think of you, and in a game like this, I know it's where it matters to most."_

* * *

**Day 3**

* * *

It was now a bright sunny day in Okinawa, Japan, and there came the moment the twenty castaways were all waiting for: the first immunity challenge of the season.

"Come on in, guys!"

With the emperors leading first, the knights quickly followed as both teams stood on their respective colored mats on the ground, Shulk and Cloud placing down their tribe flags in the process.

"Alright." Master Hand started. "You guys ready to get to your _first _immunity challenge?"

All twenty castaways either cheered, clapped, or simply nodded in response.

"For today's challenge, it is also about making choices. This is a perfect test to see how a group of people coming from different walks of life will work together. Here's how it's gonna work." Master Hand began to elaborate. "All ten of you will be hooked together as you all race through a series of obstacles in which there will be a set of keys at the end to unlike two members at a time. You will all race through a rope tunnel, climb over a series of ropes in order to reach a high platform, race down the ramp to get to leap over a couple more obstacles in any way you can. After balancing on a balance beam, by the time you get to the end, the last two members of the tribe, while still hooked together, will complete a puzzle."

"Here's the catch." He raised a finger. "For the first obstacle, the rope tunnel and the final obstacle, the balance beam, you can either make your lives a little easier, or a little more difficult. You all will have the option to have less rope to deal with to get through that tunnel, and you also have the option to have more room for the balance beam. However, if you use one shortcut, then it adds ten more pieces to the puzzle. Use both, an extra ten pieces. There could be up to seventy pieces in total. I highly suggest you make the right choices. First tribe that finishes the puzzle will then have the puzzle makers unlock themselves, which they will raise their tribe flag, winning immunity, where the winning tribe will be safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the first person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. ...Now, here's the immunity idol."

Pulling a large piece of cloth, the immunity idol was revealed to be some sort of statue of a samurai, resulting in a couple claps.

"In addition, of course you are playing for a reward, which you guys probably already know what it is." He then picked an item which at that point, it was what all the survivors expected. "Fire in the form a flint."

And once again, the castaways all cheered.

"I will give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

The two teams immediately huddled up.

"Okay, we just need to really figure out who's going to be first and who's going to be last in the line..." said Mega Man. "I think the last two people in line should be the two people that should do the puzzle."

"I agree a thousand percent." Shulk went along with his idea. "I don't know if I'm the absolute smartest at puzzles, and something tells me that the two people in front are gonna do the puzzle, so I guess that means the strongest guys have to be in the middle or something?"

"And what about the shortcuts?" Roy added.

"Well, I think it depends on if we are behind or not." Zelda assumed.

"We need to decide who do we think is going to be the best at puzzles." said Shovel Knight from the Knights tribe. "Who are the two that are going to be in the back?"

"I'm 'okay' with puzzles, but I'm not the number one person that would ace it with ease." Krystal had to admit. "However, I can keep my balance quite well, so maybe you guys can drop me off right before the puzzle."

"I'll volunteer for the puzzle." Rouge lifted a hand in the air.

-/-

"Alright, here we go." Master Hand announced as the teams all had a band around their waist with the color that represented their tribe, as a long chain hooked the castaways together. "Let's start with our leaders. It is gong to be Roy leading the emperors, followed by Peach, Shulk, Marth, Freddy, Ghirahim, Pac-Man, Shadow, Mega Man, and Zelda. Bonnie is leading the Knights tribe, followed by Luigi, Greninja, Foxy, Cloud, Knuckles, Sheik, Krystal, Rouge, and Shovel Knight.. It is our _first_ immunity challenge of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. For immunity _and_ reward. Survivors ready?"

Both Roy and Bonnie proceeded to get into a starting position.

...

"..._**GO!**_"

And thus, the challenge began, with the two aforementioned leaders racing down a ramp as the rest of their teammates followed in suit.

"...So far, nobody is going to use the shortcut to get through the rope tunnel. That means that we're gonna have a challenge right out of the gate." Master Hand noted. "Peach struggling to get through early, though. Bonnie on the other hand is throwing himself through the obstacle, but Luigi is having trouble trying to not get tangled up."

As a result, Bonnie had to pull Luigi by an arm as he himself needed to make through, since neither of them had the desire to slow down the rest of the Knights tribe.

"Try to leap through, guys!" Shulk suggested crawling through behind Peach. "Just throw yourselves through it!"

"Everybody in the rope tunnel now!"

Unfortunately for the Knights tribe, Luigi could not have helped but get tangled up quite a bit in the ropes.

"Luigi slowing down even though he's trying his absolute hardest to get through it and it's slowly costing his tribe. ...Peach making sure she doesn't slow _her _team down."

Greninja ended up having to push Luigi on his back. "Bonnie, keep pulling him. You two are almost out!"

"You can just see the look on Bonnie's face that he's giving it his all, having to pull himself as well as the rest of his tribe including Luigi, but he's getting very close to the end."

On the other hand, after Roy escaped, so did everybody else one by one, the eighteen year old having to pull Peach out of the tunnel as the rest of the emperors began to follow.

"Nearly almost all the emperors are through as Bonnie is finally getting out for the knights!"

Yet due to the time advantage the emperors had, once Zelda was through, they took the early lead.

"Emperors are through! Start unlocking!"

And Roy quickly grabbed the keys that were supported by a tall, circular stand right next to him as he began testing which key was the right choice for the lock to be picked open.

"The knights are almost through trying to catch up!"

"Ugh..." Roy already went through three of the ten keys and none of them were working.

"Take your time, Roy!" Marth called standing three steps behind him. "Panicking will not make it any easier!"

"The knights are all through! Bonnie trying to work with that lock!" Master Hand then took a glance back at the emperors for a quick moment. "...Roy and Peach are now free! Shulk is now leading his tribe!"

Peach and Roy remained on their mat as they both began cheering.

"Alright I'm done!" Bonnie's lock was now open as he and Luigi separated themselves from the rest of the team, with Greninja now leading.

"Knights are starting to close the gap as everyone starts climbing up!"

"Good job!" Peach jumped up and down clapping rather rapidly, Shulk quickly pulling himself along with Marth not that far behind him.

"We are nearly neck and neck!"

"Everybody okay!?"

"We're good!" Krystal shouted back at Greninja as Rouge had just now started climbing. "Just keep moving!"

"It's a long way up. Remember: you are as fastest as your slowest! ...Zelda starting to struggle a little bit."

"Take my hand." Mega Man used his remaining hand to hold onto the rope as Zelda took the offer well. "Be careful not to fall."

"Now it's the knights who are in the lead, but barely!"

Bonnie started to clap as Luigi simply watched. "Keep it up! You all are doing great!"

Both Greninja and Shulk were getting rather close to the top. Once they were able to grab the platform and climb up, they proceeded to help their tribemates one by one.

"Once you all are on the platform, then the leader can start working with the lock." Master Hand reminded them. "Get all your tribe members on there!"

Krystal and Rouge both pulled Shovel Knight on board.

"You're good, Knights! ...You're good, Emperors! It is still a close race! It all depends on the locks!"

Luckily for the yellow team, Greninja was the one who managed to unlock himself and his teammate first as he and Foxy separated themselves from the remaining six.

"Go, Knights! Head back down!"

Fortunately for Shulk, he managed to open the lock not too long after the opposing team took off.

"Okay I'm good."

"Shulk and Marth are now free! It is now Freddy leading the emperors, and Cloud leading the knights!"

However, Cloud Strife must have forgotten that he had five other tribe members that were chained up to him as he kept sprinting, knowing that he was racing down the ramp, resulting in Sheik stumbling and Krystal and Rouge literally falling over causing them to slide down the rest the way, which ended up in Shovel Knight being dragged down as well.

"..."

"Okay, guys. Try to stay close to me." Freddy warned the rest of the emperors as he began running down the ramp, while checking his teammates for the few moments that he could have.

"Pac-Man stumbling a bit but he doesn't fall over!" Master Hand once again shifted his hand to 'face' the other tribe. "Now the knights have to leap over those obstacles even though they are chained together. You might want to have some patience even though it is a race to that puzzle."

Strife rolled his eyes as he and Freddy were now leaping over the bars, their teammates doing the same.

"Knights still have a slight lead..."

With a sudden gasp, Zelda fell chest first into the dirt as she ended up having to stumble over the third bar. That, plus the fact that she was already last in line was not exactly a good combination for the emperors to catch up with the opposition.

"Emperors are falling ever _further_ behind by Zelda."

"We can't even see what's going on from over here." Peach said to Roy, who stood all the way back on the mat on the first obstacle.

"Come on!" Cloud shouted as he promptly raced to the next yellow mat as he began his wait for Knuckles, Sheik, Krystal, Rouge, and Shovel Knight. Yet as impatient as he might have been, his team managed to finish that part of the challenge rather quickly.

"Knights are good with the fourth obstacle! Cloud now has to unlock himself and Knuckles and then they have to decide how they're gonna handle the balance beam."

"Please tell me it's this one..." Unfortunately for the strong knight, Cloud had no luck with the first key that he tried.

Freddy meanwhile was finally getting on the mat, pulling his tribemates forward as soon as they were within reach, Zelda immediately dashing towards him when she got over the final bar.

"Emperors can work on their next set of keys as the knights are already moving onto the final obstacle before the puzzle, choosing to not use the shortcut, which means that they're going for the smallest puzzle!"

"Seriously..." Freddy was shaking his head growing frustrated after the first three locks he tested would not work, knowing that the Knights tribe are extending their lead. Though by the time he got to lock number six, it was finally opened, forcing Freddy to heave a sigh of relief.

"Freddy and Ghirahim are now done! And it is now Pac-Man leading Shadow, Mega Man, and Zelda, while Sheik leads Krystal, Rouge, and Shovel Knight over the balance beam... and the women are making it look easy."

Shovel Knight was the one struggling just a bit, but he managed to keep his balance as he continued to make his way over.

Pac-Man actually pulled down the lever, causing the beam to suddenly split open, thus becoming slightly wider.

"The emperors have chosen to take a shortcut in hopes to save up sometime, knowing that this means they get an extra ten pieces for the puzzle. Will it actually pay off, as they're finally catching up with the knights?"

By the time Shovel Knight made it across, the four remaining emperors simply ran across, catching up with them in no time.

"They're coming..."

"Don't worry, Shovel, they still have more pieces than they do." Sheik assured him.

"Both tribes are on their mat! Now the rest of the emperors have to catch up!"

All the way back to the first obstacle, now Peach, Roy, Bonnie, and Luigi are all climbing along racing to the top of the platform where they were to meet Shulk, Marth, Greninja, and Foxy.

Roberts was the first one that made it up, followed by Roy by at least a second, the former quickly pulling up Luigi, while Roy had to lie down on his stomach to pull help Peach onto the platform since she was slightly behind Luigi.

"Go, go!" Bonnie said as he and the other knight raced down the ramp with Greninja and Foxy, Roy, Peach, Shulk, and Marth not that far behind.

Pac-Man covered his hands over his mouth. "Don't give up, guys! We're still in this!"

"Get over the obstacles!" shouted Master Hand as the eight players began to do so, the yellow team making little to no troubles, as Peach in spite trying her hardest, she struggled just a bit. Fortunately for her she had her team to back her up.

"Now the four knights plus Cloud and Knuckles have to make it over the balance beam!"

The four emperors nimbly made their way over to Freddy and Ghirahim so that they all can simply run across the balance beam, causing them to nearly catch up with the knights once again.

"Go, knights! ...Go, emperors!"

As Sheik began working on the last set of keys for the knights, Pac-Man was doing the same for the emperors.

"We are neck and neck once again. It's gonna come down to the puzzle." The host of the show predicted.

Though it was the emperors that actually proceeded first, as Pac-Man and Shadow were quickly unlocked, Mega Man and Zelda immediately dashing towards the puzzle while still being chained.

"Go, knights!"

And the same was said for Rouge and Shovel Knight.

"This is it." said the master. "All you gotta do is to solve a puzzle, grab the keys, unlock yourselves, and raise your tribe flag. Just a reminder, the knights never used a shortcut, but the emperors used a shortcut for the balance beam, which means they have ten extra pieces."

"Don't worry, Mega Man and Zelda. I know both of you told us that you were great at puzzles. Don't worry about the knights if they're in the lead!" Peach suggested.

Bonnie crossed his fingers for his team as Shadow the Hedgehog simply had his arms folded.

"All four puzzle makers are working together very well, despite them still being chained up to each other."

Thus, the result was the two pairs constantly pacing back and forth all over the place.

"Whatever you do, guys, _don't panic_." Shulk said as he simply stood in his place calmly, Ghirahim rotating his head to face the other tribe.

"Oh, no, no, no, no, Shovel. Over here." Rouge corrected Shovel Knight as she moved some pieces around so that they were in the right place.

"We are still neck and neck, though the emperors have ten more pieces to deal with... But both teams' puzzles are starting to come together."

"Oh, goodness..." Luigi mumbled under his breath as his heart began racing.

"Come on..." Foxy muttered as well.

Roy had his palms together.

"The knights are getting closer and the emperors are getting closer, but the emperors are working slightly faster. Perhaps they chose the right two people to work on the puzzle..."

However, due to the yellow team having less pieces to deal with, they managed to finish their puzzle in less time, which turned out to be an actual knight.

"The knights have it! Get the keys and use one of them to unlock yourselves!"

Rouge and Shovel Knight's teammates all began to cheer in their own way as they watch Rouge making quick work of the keys as Mega Man and Zelda are placing down their final pieces of the puzzle.

"...Mega Man and Zelda finish _their_ puzzle!"

Unfortunately for them, it was too little, too late as the last pair of the Knights tribe were unhooked, Shovel Knight promptly raising their tribe flag.

"_**THE KNIGHTS WIN THE FIRST IMMUNITY**** CHALLENGE!**_"

The members of the yellow tribe erupted in complete celebration, where in contrast, the same simply could not have been said for the red tribe.

Ghirahim had his hands placed on his hips, shaking his head down low as Freddy and Shadow simply had their arms folded, Fazbear staring at the actually completed puzzle, which turned out to be a famous emperor.

"Alright, knights. Here you go." Master Hand handed the tribal immunity idol to Shovel Knight. "It was a very close battle, and it came down to the decision you all made as a group to not take any of the shortcuts, and it paid off. Congratulations. Here's your flint. Take it and head out."

Shadow's eyes rolled away as Greninja managed to catch the flint.

"As for the emperors, sorry to say, but it's gonna happen _tonight_." The large hand shared the unfortunate news the losing tribe never wanted to hear. "Because you lost the immunity challenge, one of the ten of you will be going home. You have the afternoon to figure out who that's gonna be. I'll see you all at tribal."

_"We were desperate to win in the end, so we took the shortcut, and it costs us the challenge." Shadow said. "However, both women, Peach and Zelda were slowing the tribe down quite a bit, and if it weren't for them, we would have gotten away with a victory, anyway. Sometimes the first Tribal Council can determine the rest of the game. So if it was solely up to my decision, I'd like to have the team be as strong as possible, and whether they'd like it or not, neither of those two women delivered as far as the physical aspect is taken into consideration."_

* * *

**What a long challenge I made... All challenges will be listed on my profile.**

**Alright, since the Knights tribe won immunity, my sincere apologies to anyone who is a fan of the following: Peach, Zelda, Ghirahim, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, and Freddy. Your fav is officially going to Tribal Council lol. And they were _super_ close, too. I guess they feared that the knights were gonna take over the rest of the challenge, so they tried thinking ahead by doing the shortcut. Even though it basically might have hurt in the end, Mega Man and Zelda were great in spite of the ten extra pieces. So that means that the emperors were basically no more than a few seconds or so behind, so overall both teams did a great job. But unfortunately, there is only first place at the moment and there's nothing the losers can do except pay the price, which is going to Tribal Council.**

**For all the ones that don't know about Tribal Council, it's basically a torch lit place the castaways have to go to at night where the tribe must vote someone off to go home in any way they can. (And I say in any way they can, but Tribal Council, as the fans know, is... _complicated_ to say the least, especially if you've watched the majority of the season lol.) Oh, and by the way, all challenges will be listed on my profile as each of them is shown, whether it would be an old Survivor challenge, or a new challenge that I made myself such as this one.**

**Now let's get to the obvious questions. Not just about who might be going home though, since the challenge of course wasn't the only thing that occurred this chapter. Still...**

**Questions:**

**1\. Who do you all think might get the boot here and why?**

**2\. What do you think about Ghirahim's assumptions about a possible majority alliance between the supposed "three pairs" (Peach, Zelda, Marth, Roy, Mega Man, and Pac-Man)?**

**3\. Is Cloud basically shooting himself in the foot at the moment?**

**4\. Do you all typically get excited whenever it rains on Survivor just to see how the castaways react?**

**5\. For whatever reason, who do you generally feel sorry for on this cast so far?**

**The winner pick poll is still up and Luigi is still in the lead, with Mega Man, Knuckles, and Rouge all tied for second! Vote for your winner pick on my profile and watch my "Emperors vs Knights" YouTube intro if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday where the very first person is going to be voted out of this season!**


	4. Chapter 4: Day 3 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 4 - Day 3 Part 2

**Okay, so the Nago/Emperors tribe now has to go to Tribal Council after losing the first immunity challenge. They've already lost the opening challenge where the reward was the advanced shelter making kit, and now they can't have fire in the form of flint until the Tribal Council is done (which is what they do in most of the Survivor seasons when the first tribe has to go to Tribal Council). So yeah, they're kinda starting an early losing streak here, which is of course anything but good in Survivor. Like Shadow said, sometimes losing the first immunity challenge can basically make the rest of the game. However, it doesn't mean that they still can't win the next immunity challenge so you guys can still have your hopes up for the Emperors!**

**So let's recap as far as the tribe is concerned starting from day one. Pac-Man wants to be in an alliance with Mega Man (he doesn't mind, but he's apparently trying to distance himself from Pac-Man just so that they won't make it obvious), Peach is doing everything she could around camp despite her being completely out of her comfort zone, Shulk is leading his tribe, Freddy is wondering how his tribemates perceive him, and Ghirahim thinks that the three "pairs" in the tribe (Mega Man, Pac-Man, Peach, Zelda, Marth, and Roy) are all in the majority alliance of six against himself, Shulk, Freddy, and Shadow. (Even though most likely the supposed "majority" never even thought of making a majority alliance in the first place.) ...LOL**

**Well, we'll simply see how it goes, because one of these ten people now has to go home so they can move forward. Let's see how they're gonna do it...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 3**

* * *

Shulk, Ghirahim, Pac-Man, Freddy, Shadow, Peach, Marth, Mega Man, Zelda, and Roy all returned to their camp, all in dissatisfaction for obvious reasons.

Shulk, however, chose to look at the more positive side of things. "Well, look at the bright side, guys. If we all just had at least ten more seconds, then maybe we would have won. The knights could have struggled with the keys last minute because those are always a guessing game."

"But still, a loss is a loss. We still lost to those knights, and now one of the ten of us has to get their torch snuffed as a result." Shadow the Hedgehog spoke. "We just need to figure out how we are going to move forward as a tribe. Because for all we know, that first immunity challenge loss might as well dictate the rest of the season."

_"Unsurprisingly, the tribe resorted to take a glance at the 'bright side' of the challenge even though every last one of them is well aware that we came in second place. They're only saying that just so the keep the team in 'good spirits'. But at the end of the day, we all have to face facts. We lost the challenge, now we decide who is going to leave the island, and then we have to make our way to the Tribal Council."_

"Well, we all still did a good job today." Shulk defended. "Everyone did well, and even though we took that shortcut and had those ten extra pieces, Mega Man and Zelda aced that puzzle. It's pretty clear we chose the right people to do it."

"Yes, but still, one of us will no longer be here."

Before he stood to hear another response, Shadow was already on his way somewhere else.

_"The Survivor community is probably gonna hate how I'm gonna put this, but if they were out here, they would be doing the same thing, unless you want to go to the second Tribal Council in the game." The hedgehog from Mobius assumed. "However, if it were up to me, we would get rid of the weak. That's the only reason to why we lost. Both of the girls struggled a bit during the obstacle course, so one of them has to get the boot."_

-/-

_"Shadow was absolutely correct. The loss of today could affect the rest of the game. If that is so, then Peach and Zelda just cost ten people including myself a million dollars. It really irks me, especially how Zelda performed even though she tried to redeem herself at the puzzle... But neither of the girls apologized. No apologies, no regrets, no sympathy for the other members, nothing. I'm already at the bottom, and now people aren't even going to apologize for their actions knowing that one of us is going to get the boot as a result of their performance."_

He managed to find himself with Shadow and Freddy once again.

"Okay." The tallest member of Nago immediately began to talk. "So I've gave it some thought, and initially I figured that we call our alliance the _Comeback _Alliance due to our current unfortunate situation. However, I then figured that at this point, we might as well name it the _Karma_ Alliance instead."

"..."

"..."

"So, we clearly know who we are supposed to target tonight and why." He continued on. "Right now, I am more irritated at Zelda. Not only she is the bigger reason for our loss, she's been best friends with Peach for the entire game and now the majority is going to pick us off one by one."

"But, how do you even know we're at the bottom?" Freddy Fazbear blinked.

"It is ever so obvious. I wouldn't even be angry at them for voting off someone like Shadow because at least they would have the sense enough to make a good move by targeting the supposed 'weakest' of our alliance." He placed a hand on the smaller castaway's shoulder. "No offense of course, but something tells me that's how they would see it, especially if the six of them get to stay in the game. Aside from the friendship of Peach and Zelda, Marth has been praising Roy ever since we stepped foot on the island, and Mega Man is desperately trying to avoid Pac-Man. Those three pairs come together, and that's a 6-4 majority."

Shadow the Hedgehog decided to ignore the 'weakest' of the alliance part for now. "So who do you think?"

Ghirahim folded his arms. "I'd rather hear your personal opinion first, but if you want me to voice mine, that's fine. I personally think it should be Zelda. She's been a thorn in my side ever since we lost today. For all we know, she could even be the center of the alliance. I mean, sure Peach is supposedly even weaker in the physical aspect of the challenges, but all Peach had to get through was simply one obstacle. Zelda literally ran the entire course. The only individual that was with her in the end was Mega."

"However, what if Peach was in Zelda's spot?" Shadow hypothesized. "If she ran the entire course, she would have been even worse. She wouldn't be the best when it came to puzzles, and when we do one again, at least we can rely on Zelda for that. Peach is just not a challenge person and she knows it."

"..." After falling under the spell of silence, with a sigh, Ghirahim thought that the black hedgehog was not wrong. "Valid argument if I do say so myself... Now all we have to is to convince the rest of the tribe to vote her off and this alliance has a fighting chance."

_"As much as I would have personally prefer to see Zelda walk, she does have one redeeming quality, which is the puzzle aspect of the challenges, since you never know that it would be the puzzle that would save us in the near future. So unfortunately, she's not going home today. However, we still need to vote Peach out the island. What would work in my favor is that the supposed 'Pair Up Alliance' are actually somehow **not** in an alliance with each other. And if that was the case, then it'd be much easier to manipulate them into getting rid of Peach if we explain to them that she is the weakest link. But the reality is that not only it would work for the tribe, but also in my favor specifically. Getting rid of Peach will completely alienate Zelda. You always have to be three steps ahead. I will talk to them all today, and then I will voice my opinion at Tribal Council."_

"I'll make my way back to the shelter." He raised a finger and begin his walk. "You both stay here so that we won't make it obvious that we're all aligned."

Shadow ended up facing Freddy who was giving Ghirahim a strange look as he wandered off.

_"Honestly, whenever I talk to Ghirahim, I just feel like he thinks really hard and just jumps to way too many conclusions." Freddy admitted. "I mean, I've been interacting with everyone here and so far the only possible alliance is between Mega Man and Pac-Man, and even so, I don't even know if Mega even wants to be a part of that. However, if he is somehow true, than I would rather have Peach go home anyway in case I might be in trouble in the future. Better safe than sorry."_

-/-

"Well, the water is nice..."

Meanwhile, Peach, Zelda, and Pac-Man were all standing in the water.

"It's really unfortunate we have to cut someone's dream short and they have only been here for three days." Peach Toadstool was clearly not happy about Tribal Council one bit. "I really wish it didn't have to come to this."

"Well, we all worked hard in that challenge." Zelda told the both of them. "That's all that matters and the person that gets sent home will be happy about the experience they enjoyed."

Pac-Man turned to Peach.

"I know, but still, no one likes to be voted out of the game, let alone be the first one to go..."

"And I agree." Zelda nodded in response. "So,... let's just make the decision on the _right_ person that should be sent home. Who's getting along here?"

"Well..." Despite Peach looking away for a couple moments, she knew she had the common sense to know where everyone stood socially. "The only two people that I'm unsure about are Shadow and Ghirahim. Nothing against them, but they just don't see to um... _gel_ well with the rest of us..."

Pac-Man turned to Zelda.

"I already get a vibe from both of them that they're both going to be dangerous as the days go on. Besides, for all we know, they could be planning on rallying the tribe against us, because they might perceive us as the 'weakest' in the challenge today."

"That's just what I am afraid of." Peach said. "I mean, we all did well. I was not that bad in the first obstacle and you and Mega _nailed_ that puzzle and even got it done!"

"I know, but they're probably looking at what could have happened." Zelda guessed. "I mean you know, I want to win challenges too, so we can't send Ghirahim home."

"So we vote for Shadow, then?" asked Pac-Man.

"Better to get rid of him before he gets rid of one of us. We just need to make sure the rest of the tribe is on the same page..." Zelda placed a finger beneath her chin. "That seems to be our only choice..."

-/-

Thus, it left Mega Man, Marth, Shulk, and Roy in the shelter all on their own lying down on the bamboo.

"I mean... I love Peach and Zelda and all, but I want to win challenges." said Roy. "That's pretty much all I have to say."

"I'm pretty sure that's what we all want." Shulk sighed, but hesitantly agreed. "I'll be honest with you guys, though. I think getting rid of Peach or Zelda would make me feel like I'm... _evil _or something, hahaha! But really... Even though Shadow is most likely not going to bond well with the rest of us, he clearly will be more physical in challenges than the both of them. If Chatan keeps winning, we're getting picked off one by one. ...Yeah, getting picked off one by one at this point in the show is next to impossible, but then again, _nothing_ is impossible."

Mega Man kept his eyes on the three of them.

"But... Ugh..."

Shulk flipped his head to his left. "What's wrong, Marth?"

"I mean, kicking out Peach and Zelda before Shadow and... Ghirahim? ...It's just... it's..." He honestly felt sick at the thought of it all. "...It's... It's not _right_..."

"...You know what, you have a point as well." Roy had to agree with Marth even though he knew very well that getting rid of the getting rid of the weakest link argument sounded completely logical for him. "Peach is just... so nice... And she wants to do everything... I mean, she brings so much positive energy to the camp."

Shulk lifted his head a little bit.

"What do you think, Mega Man?"

The blue bomber was actually waiting to be spoken to. "Okay, well... _my_ honest opinion would be that as positive as Peach is around here, I think overtime that would make her a likable threat... Zelda is both smart and likable. Wouldn't be surprised if they got to the end and one of them win."

_"This might be a rather, um... **unpopular** opinion here." Mega Man presumed. "But in all honesty, I'd actually rather keep Shadow and Ghirahim here. Or at least one of them if I could. But only because if they're around and they are likely to rub people the wrong way, long term that keeps me off the radar. I can perhaps use one of them as a shield in the future..."_

Then out of nowhere, Ghirahim came back to the shelter and faced all four of them with folded arms.

"We need to store the firewood under the shelter in advance just in case it rains tonight..."

"...Okay?" Roy lifted an eyebrow.

"And also, who are you guys looking forward to send packing at the tribal?"

"We're still trying to figure that out..."

"Well..." Ghiraim unfolded his arms and heaved a sigh of slight frustration as if his voice was not being heard in Nago at all, flapping his arms all over the place. "Okay... I don't mean to get like this, but can you all _please_ consider the fact that those two girls performed _poorly_ in the challenge today? I mean, do we all want to head to Tribal Council _again_? I don't know about you all, but I came here to win a million dollars..."

...

If the four of them could exchange confused and annoyed glances to one another, they would have. But the quarter of Nago members simply remained neutrally staring at Ghirahim.

-/-

Freddy was now sitting down in the sand by the tribe flag using the machete to break open a coconut. And being the strong guy he was, he did it with ease.

Then suddenly, there came Zelda.

"Freddy, do you have a minute?"

"Well I was planning on getting back to the camp so I can stay in the loop here and keep track of what's going on, but since you're here, perhaps you know something I don't." The anthropomorphic animal began drinking from the coconut.

"Okay, well what do you think is happening tonight?"

That was basically Freddy's first chance on whether he could tell the Hyrulian the honest truth, or blatantly lie. In real life, Fazbear would have eventually been ridiculed for it. Yet in Survivor, both choices had their own cons and pros.

Then again, no one told him that there was no way it could have been a little bit of both. "Long story short, Nago wants to win at least the next immunity challenge. Everyone's scared we might just continue our losing streak and never win anything..."

Zelda sighed. "Well, considering on what was said the moment we got back to camp, it's not as if it is new information that I previously was not aware of."

"I understand..."

"I assume you agree with them?"

"They're not wrong..." He took a drink again. "I just want to get Tribal Council and get it over with... Though I gotta admit. Shadow and especially Ghirahim are two people that I can't say I'm close to that much..."

This was Zelda's opportunity to have an honest moment with him. "Well, Freddy, the thing is that none of the tribe thinks that Shadow and Ghirahim have that many positive emotions that will keep the team in good spirit. They have no connections with anyone at all. Whether we can agree with them or not, that's how they all feel. I'm pretty sure everyone here, including you and I, will have a much easier time if one of them isn't around. I know Shadow is strong, but he is not the strongest member, so we can still win challenges. Do you think so?"

Freddy remained silent for a bit. "Yeah..."

"Just think about it, Freddy..."

With him saying nothing else, Zelda decided to walk and leave him be, knowing that he was getting ready to get up and move anyway. Though after that conversation with her, it made Freddy put the coconut down with a lowered head as he thought to himself.

_"Right before tribal after hearing Ghirahim's plan, Zelda stopped by to have a last minute talk with me... I think I'm under some sort of pressure here. I do know that my name won't be written down tonight. However, it seems like I can really get along with Zelda. Especially after our talk this morning. I feel as she can really help me if I'm struggling out here socially, as well as possibly having her as an ally in general. So in advance, I already feel like I have to return the favor by not voting her off. I'd feel really bad if I have to write Peach tonight, but I'd feel even worse if I have to write down Zelda..."_

The last time the emperors were seen was them packing their belongings and leaving the Nago camp, beginning their official journey to Tribal Council.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 3**

* * *

Roy, Zelda, Pac-Man, Freddy, Peach, Marth, Ghirahim, Mega Man, Shulk, and Shadow were all now following along their path, moving by several torches to make it to the Tribal Council area.

After moving up a few stairs, by the time they all got there, one by one the all stood tall, as they all eyed Master Hand who was already waiting for them at the other side.

"Behind each of you is a torch. Grab, dip it in, and get fire."

They immediately followed his instructions, dipping set torches in the fire pit that sat in front of them, before taking them back in putting them in different slots.

"This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council because in this game, fire represents your life. When your fire is gone, so are you."

And they all sat down on the wooden circular seats, with the tallest five members of the tribe sitting in the back row. The people of Nago all took their time gazing their eyes upon the area. A well lit area solely by torches as well as the fire pit, and the area as a whole was nearly closed in, with the exception of the entrance, and the exit, where one of the castaways had to head down the stairs in order to leave the game. As far as for the rest of the tribal, it was if there were in some sort of castle, as there were surrounding towers, including the largest one where inside was where the castaways needed to cast their votes.

"So, here we are at Tribal Council." Master Hand began the tribal discussion. "I think it's most appropriate to discuss the theme this season. Ten emperors, ten knights. The emperors are used to success and generally having things go their way no matter what situation they're in, and you all are here right now at Tribal Council, so let's focus on you guys. ..._Peach_. Why are you here?"

"Well," She seemed to be elated that Master Hand chose her to answer one of his questions. "I'm here to basically, um... to basically show the world that I'm willing to take risks like this. People always see me as this sweet person back at home. And because of how people perceive back at home, I felt as if there's something more of me that I can show to them. And so, I applied for Survivor and I think I'm really having a good time out here, even though I know about the lack of that much food here, not getting enough sleep, and as you say, it's going to be a wet season here in Japan. ...But, I feel that no matter how far I go, even if I'm the first out, the experience would still be worth it and I would always be proud of my decision to come out here with conditions like this."

Her explanation made a couple of her tribemates grin.

"_Mega Man_." The master moved on. "What about you? Why are _you_ here?"

"Well, first off, I actually found the show by accident." He informed. "But when I did, I actually began watching it a little bit and thought it was a good show. Some folks from home joked about what I would do if I was out here, and I pushed it aside at first. But overtime, I figured that I might as well give it a shot. They were all stunned to realize that I was actually gonna do it, but then I told them that after all I've been through back at home, there's nothing wrong with testing yourself just to see how things would work out. And like Peach said, even if I'm out first, so be it. It was still a pleasure being here."

"Alright, so some of you are here based on whatever happened back where you are from." said Master Hand. "However, some of you are here just to see how things would work out whether you're someone like Peach that wants to step out of your comfort zone, or like Mega Man, by being out here just to put yourself to the test. But no matter what, you all share one thing in common. You are used to domination and fighting through, or you're used to the positive reception you receive at home. But after today's challenge, you all were so close to winning, but it was the knights who pushed through at the end by about a dozen or so seconds."

"But Master,"

Shadow earned everyone's attention.

"it doesn't matter if you are even two seconds from winning. Look at the final immunity challenge from Cagayan. I won't get into any spoilers, but a loss is still a loss. All we have to do as a tribe is to figure out how are we going to prevent it from happening again. We already lost the day one challenge with those knights winning the shelter making kit."

"But Master Hand," Shulk stepped in. "there's nothing wrong with keeping team spirit. At least we all worked really hard. We took a risk, took the shortcut, and now it's debatable on whether or not it worked out for us. However, Mega Man and Zelda not only worked together well on the puzzle, they _still_ completed the puzzle, even though the yellow team beat us at the end. So even though we lost, at least we know that due to the amount of time they had over us at the last second, there was at least a possibility that we could have won and I'm pretty sure everyone sitting here knows it all too well."

"Master," Ghirahim suddenly spoke. "the immunity challenge is going to be the main topic of this Tribal Council."

"Oh..." The host of Survivor replied. "Okay, then! Then we can continue talking about today's challenge!"

"Gladly." He nodded confidently. "Now, after what we've heard so far, I agree with both Shulk _and_ Shadow. Even though we could've won, we still lost. The main topic here is what _can we do_, so that we won't lose again. The first challenge sometimes has proven that it can dictate the entirety of the season. I will _not _let this tribe fall under the same category."

"So what's your strategy tonight?"

"It is ever so simple. Get rid of the weak. ...Well, we can't get rid of _both_ of them at one tribal,"

Peach and especially Zelda immediately rotated their heads to Ghirahim.

"but that means we just need to kick one of them, and hope that we all pull it together and claim victory at the next immunity challenge."

"And it is ever so obvious that Peach and Zelda both know who are you referring to."

"I mean," The gray looking man hunched his shoulders. "with all due respect, it is not a large chance that one can lose every immunity challenge and then getting away with it. If we do not win, then Nago is going to eventually become a sinking ship. The emperors are already perceived as the 'topdogs' of the season, and just by comparison, the 'knights' are the underdogs of the season. So in order to progress, the question is _how_ are the emperors are supposed to win this competition without being overthrown by the underdogs on the opposition."

"That rhymes..." Shulk mumbled under his breath.

"And look, I understand that kicking the weakest link to the curb is a cliché at this point in the show, but it is common sense, at least as far as this tribe is concerned. I'm not entirely sure if it will please the ones at home, but they're not playing. We have to win at least _one_ immunity challenge, and hopefully that is not much to ask for."

"Master Hand, Ghirahim is acting as if we never stood a _chance_ at that challenge." Zelda finally started to defend herself. "Nago acknowledged how hard me and Mega Man worked on that puzzle. I have stepped up and told them that I could handle the puzzle. At one point I did not know we were going to finish on time, but we still did. I am used to helping my fellow citizens of Hyrule, so I can help the ones on this tribe. Sure, me and Peach might have had a difficult time keeping up at points, though we still pushed through as hard as we possibly could."

"And I agree with Zelda." Peach bobbed her head up and down. "While I understand that keeping the tribe physically strong is a priority, I do not understand on why Ghirahim is acting like me and Zelda completely blew it for everyone. I don't think he realizes how hard me and Zelda worked on that challenge. Like, if Mega and Zelda had a hard time at the puzzle, then I would understand. And I only had a hard time getting through the rope tunnel, and that was the only obstacle where I really had to push through."

"Master," The male emperor never even shifted his eyes as either of the women. "on every tribe in Survivor history, there are people that are weaker than others. You could have twenty of the strongest competitors all on one season, and it still would not make that much of a difference. There's always the strongest member of the tribe, and there's always the weakest member of the tribe. However, it is not just based on _what_ happened. It is all based on what _could_ happen in the future. I do not know about those two, but I'd rather_ prevent_ then to _react_."

"Marth, what do you make of Ghirahim's comments about Peach and Zelda and their performance at the challenge? Walk me through."

"Well, I will be honest. I do understand where Ghirahim is coming from." The hero of Altea talked. "We have only know Peach and Zelda for three days, and you could only judge them based on those three days. And while I understand that Zelda is not the strongest individual there is, we are going to have more puzzles to complete in the future and she could be very useful in that category. It is not always about physical capability if challenges are a priority for this tribal. So both of their arguments make sense to a degree."

"I am quite fond of how you completely left Peach out of your statement." Ghirahim commented.

Marth Lowell had a jaw dropped with a confounded look. "...Well, then if Peach is not the strongest individual, like she said, she did not flop horribly as you say. All she had to get through that one obstacle."

"Thank you, Marth." She thanked him kindly.

"But that is my entire point. She could have ran the entire course and she would have performed even worse than Zelda, even at the one thing she is good at. Peach had to get through the course anyway because she and the others had to catch up to meet at the puzzle and Roy was even pulling Peach along so that she would not have been left behind."

Roy hung his head down.

"I am an emperor, and I am used to winning. Whenever we do not win, we have to make sure it does not happen _again_. It is ever so simple."

No words were spoken for the next several moments, in spite of both Peach and Zelda shaking their heads.

"Pac-Man, I want input from you. It's simple: what do _you_ think of today's challenge?"

"Oh, I thought it was a great challenge!" He beamed with glee. "Sure it might have been long, but that's just the excitement of the first immunity challenge. I've seen people compete in the challenges from home, and now it's my turn and I enjoyed it. We all had to get through the rope tunnel, climb all the way to the top of that platform, come back down, jump across those obstacles, and then head over the balance beam in our own way, and then the puzzle. Sure it was lot, but I had a lot of fun!"

That earned a mixture of laughs, giggles, and smiles from the rest of the emperors. Even Ghirahim had his own small smirk.

"Sounds like _someone_ had a good time." Hand noted.

"Yeah, even though we have what is being said right now, we all had a good time out there whether we lost or not." Shulk added. "Every time you say go on day three I imagine it being me some day, and it actually happened, so I think it was kind of a moment for everyone to enjoy whether you're the strongest _or_ supposedly the weakest on the tribe."

"Well, even though you all would admit that you all had a good time out there, you all still have to vote someone off from your tribe, and that seems to be the saddest part of it all, especially at the first Tribal Council."

"It always is a sad moment no matter what tribe you're on." Roy nodded in agreement. "But at the more positive side, at least these are our final moments as a group while all ten of us are still here."

He earned a few nods.

"Just as Roy said. These are the final moments where the ten of you will be together and that is this very Tribal Council." The Survivor host remind them. "And when this is over, you all will be down to nine members. Let's see how this first vote plays out, because it is _time_ to vote. Freddy, you're up."

And Fazbear popped from his seat and proceeded to the Tribal Council voting area, uncapping the historic, fountain pen and wrote down the name he wanted. Casting his folded vote in the urn near him, he made his way back to his fellow members.

Next it was Marth Lowell's turn to cast his vote, and so he did, heading towards the voting booth with a bit of a sigh, knowing that he was feeling guilty that he had to send someone out of the game.

Following Marth were Pac-Man, Shulk, and Mega Man. With Peach following shortly after, she wrote down the name she thought was best for the tribe, holding her piece of parchment forward with the name of 'Shadow', beginning to whisper her reasoning.

"You may not be one of the weakest, but I just don't think you've bonded well enough with the rest of us. Sometimes, a little positivity can go along way and I believe that everyone has a heart somewhere. Maybe I can bake a cake for you and have a cup of tea when we get back home so we can talk."

Shadow the Hedgehog himself just so happened to be called up next, taking his turn in holding his piece of parchment for ones to see.

"This is what I personally believe what needs to be done. Hopefully the rest of the tribe is on the same page..."

After Zelda and Roy had their turn, Ghirahim was the last one to go. And by the time he returned to his seat, Master Hand knew that it was time.

"I'll go tally the votes."

Zelda noticed that Ghirahim actually started to have some sort of a worried expression on his face. Shadow simply sat with tied up arms as Peach just stared and waited until the Master Hand was done.

He finally came back and placed the urn down on a wooden table near the castaways to their left.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, not would be the time to do so."

Ghirahim head turned his way over to Peach, who simply remained eyeing the master, with the rest of the tribe doing the same.

"...Okay." He 'nodded.' "Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Zelda had a fist beneath her chin.

"First vote... Peach."

She blinked.

Master Hand then unfolded the next vote. "Shadow."

The anthropomorphic animal shook his head a little, his posture still not changing.

"One vote Shadow, one vote Peach."

Vote number three was revealed.

"Peach."

Roy curled up his lips as Freddy held his hands together in his lap

"Peach. Three votes Peach, one vote Shadow."

Then the next thing Zelda knew, she was hanging her head down low with somewhat of a saddened expression, Marth's fist against his head.

"Peach."

Ghirahim widened his eyes a bit.

Peach took a glance from to her right to look at the rest of her tribe, then back at the master.

"Peach."

Nothing but a blink from the woman.

"Five votes Peach, one vote Shadow."

Shulk slowly shook his head from left to right, not even looking at Peach, nor Master Hand anymore.

Shadow at that point looked rather confident.

"First person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Peach. That's six, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

"Okay..." She got up from her seat and proceeded behind everyone else to do what she was told.

Zelda covered her hand over her eyes and begin shedding a few tears, Marth, Roy, Shulk, Mega Man, and even Freddy were saddened at the result of the votes. Not even Pac-Man for once could keep his smile as thunder started to sound.

Shadow never changed his expression as Peach placed down her torch in the necessary spot as she looked up at Master Hand with a small smile.

"Peach, the tribe has spoken."

And so, she watched as the snuffer Master Hand used put out her now once lit torch.

"Time for you to go."

"Okay, everyone!" She turned around as she made her way to the stairs. "This was fun. I really enjoyed my time out here!"

"Bye, Peach." said Mega Man with a bittersweet expression as Pac-Man waved.

"Good luck, Peach." Marth told her.

"We'll miss you." said Roy.

"We'll win for you." Shulk nodded.

"Thank you, Peach." Zelda started to wave. "We'll see you when this is over!"

"Good luck!" Peach gave one last wave to her tribe as she finally started to hurry her way downstairs.

Ghirahim gave a large smirk.

And at that moment, it immediately began to rain.

Zelda began wiping her tears away has now made it downstairs and was now running along to make it out of the rain as soon as possible.

"Well, it seems that keeping the tribe as physical as possible turned out to be the winning argument for tonight." Master Hand said in conclusion. "And judging by this group's reaction as a whole, Peach had to be sacrificed it seems for the better. Let's hope you win a challenge in the future."

Not one word was said from anyone.

"Because you've been to Tribal Council, you get fire in the form of flint." Master Hand tossed the flint over to Shadow. "But I guess since it's raining, maybe for now it wouldn't even matter."

That earned a couple laughs from certain members of Nago.

"Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

The remaining nine emperors all stood up and picked up their torches, heading out the way they came one by one, beginning their journey back to their camp.

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Peach**** \- Shadow**

**Zelda \- Peach**

**Ghirahim \- ****Peach**

**Marth \- ****Peach**

**Roy \- ****Peach**

**Shadow \- ****Peach**

**Mega Man \- ****Peach**

**Pac-Man \- ****Peach**

**Shulk \- ****Peach**

**Freddy \- ****Peach**

_**20th Place: **_**Peach**

* * *

_"Well,... I guess I am the first boot of the season. Oh well. I've tried my best. Even though I've only lasted three days, I've really learned a lout out here. I've made some friendships out here with my tribe, and when I get home I can tell my people all about it. They'd be disappointed of how I was the first voted out, but like I said, I still enjoyed my experience no matter what. I'll hold my head up high, and I will never regret applying for the show as long as I live."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Ghirahim, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy / Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Rouge, Cloud, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

* * *

**...Well, I guess this can be one of the saddest boots of the show, and it is only Tribal Council #1. I really felt bad that Peach had to go, even though this is my story lol. And all she wanted was to step out of comfort zone and try something new to show her people that she had a stronger side.**

**So it turned out to be a be a unanimous 9-1 vote, and Peach pretty much knew she was going, so she wasn't blindsided (those of you who don't know, a blindside in Survivor is when a person simply doesn't expect themselves to be voted out of the game). This was a combination of being called the weakest of her tribe, as well as Ghirahim thinking that Peach was Zelda's number one ally who were 'supposedly' in a majority alliance of six, Mega Man actually wanting to keep Shadow around for the sake of his own game in the future, and Freddy not wanting to send Zelda out. All that plays into this very vote right here. Despite all that, they all liked Peach a lot and everyone was sad to see her go with the exceptions of Shadow and Ghirahim. And now, the emperors are one team member short.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Did you like Peach? And were you sad to see her go?**

**2\. Do you think the tribe made the right call?**

**3\. Do you think the Emperors tribe would win a challenge in the future?**

**Watch my "Emperors vs Knights" YouTube intro if you haven't already!  
**

**And thus, my winner pick poll is now closed, with Luigi (2 votes) being the most voted on you guys want/expect to win the season (Knuckles, Rouge, and Mega Man each had one vote). But since Peach is no longer in the game, now it is time to have a new poll up and ready. On my profile, you can now vote for your top five players this season based on if you like them or are you simply rooting for them to win.**

**I will see you all next Wednesday where we will continue where the emperors left off! ...My apologies to all the Peach fans lol. She was very fun to write.**


	5. Chapter 5: Day 4

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 5 - Day 4

**KoopalingFan back here once again with another chapter of "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" And in the last chapter, Peach was the first castaway from this season to be eliminated and now there are nineteen players remaining in the game. So props to you all in your favorite character is still in the game (I'm so sorry Peach fans lol).**

**Not much to say here, but for this chapter, the game will simply progress from here. We'll simply start with the emperors and then we'll see what the knights are up too. Keep in mind that the last thing that happened before the Nago tribe exited Tribal Council was that it was just starting to rain, so they might have a hard time tonight and even when they got the flint, they still can't make fire. Wish them good luck I guess lol.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Night 3**

* * *

One by one, the remaining nine emperors of the Nago tribe successfully returned from their first Tribal Council, individually leaning their torches against a nearby tree.

"Wow..." Roy said as it continued to rain. "That was awful..."

"I don't know about you all, but I'd rather not go there again." Marth's comment about the tribal was not specifically about the tribal itself, but he was already remembering the moment he written Peach's name down and sent her home as well as literally the rest of the tribe...

...even Zelda of all people.

_"I didn't know if I was going to be getting that emotional at that tribal, but I really felt awful that I had to write Peach's name down. After I had that talk with Freddy I asked around and found out that Peach was going home. I wished I could have written Shadow, but I wanted to stick with the rest of the group all for the sake of trust, or else it would have shown that I was closer to Peach than the rest of the emperors. But now I have another problem, and his name is Ghirahim."_

He was seen immediately heading for the shelter. "Ugh... The weather seems even worse than last time..."

"Hey, on the bright side, one less person means more space, hahaha!" Shulk attempted to humor the situation, whether it really worked for his tribe members or not.

Pac-Man ended up holding a hand from the shelter as if he was trying to 'test' the rain. What was he trying to accomplish, the world may have never known.

_"It is pretty much self-explanatory. I believe that Ghirahim is going to cause quite a bit of trouble around camp. Sure, Shadow might also isolate himself at times, but at least the majority of the people here can say that he keeps his comments to himself... **most** of the time. Though if does something, I am not going to confront him directly, because worst case scenario, he could rally the entire tribe and boot me out right behind Peach. I already doubt that I am in the safest position in this game at the moment..."_

_**BOOM!**_

"Ugh..." said Freddy as he ans the rest of the emperors were now once again together in the shelter. "This is gonna get worse and worse, isn't it?"

"Don't worry, Freddy!" Pac-Man was optimistic. "It's only night three, and then tomorrow only day four! You know what they say: three down, and only thirty-six more days to go!"

"..."

"Well," Shulk spoke. "at least we are _somewhat_ lucky. In Survivor - Samoa, it rained five days straight, so this is nothing."

"Still, this is the 'warmest' we'll be tonight." Shadow spoke, lying down to close his eyes. "Even if we now have the flint, it is impossible for us to start a fire. We really need to get going tomorrow. I'd suggest that we need to be awake as early as we can if they rain has stopped by tomorrow. We are already running low on firewood. And the wood that is out right now in the fire pit is soaked so we have to get rid of them in the morning."

Freddy wanted to shake his head.

_"I don't think Shadow realizes the way he talks to people at times. I also don't think he realizes of how lucky he was tonight. I think that if more people wanted to keep both Peach and Zelda around, he would have been gone. I in particular had nothing against Peach, but I just wanted to keep Zelda. ...Hmm. Who knows." The bear shrugged. "Maybe I could be Peach's replacement or something..."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 4**

* * *

The rain indeed was over by the next morning, and every member of the Chatan tribe was all up and ready for the day. They knew that they needed to retrieve more firewood just like the emperors.

And Cloud Strife decided to take advantage of the situation by making sure all of his tribemates were doing the job correctly.

_"I am proud that I am a knight." The ex-member of SOLDIER stated. "Fortunately for myself, I am part of a tribe where not a soul thinks that it's acceptable to simply lay back and do absolutely nothing. The whole day. All nineteen of us that are remaining of the game are well aware how serious the rain can get, which only means that there is more work that needs to be done. In order to make sure we are on the right track, I figured that it was best to aid my teammates as much as possible whenever it it necessary."_

After Greninja removed the wet fire from the pit, Krystal was now attempting to ignite a fire with flint.

"Hold up for a minute, Krystal." Strife suddenly jumped in. "I think we need at least a couple more pieces of wood then that. ...Greninja, in the meantime, you can get more wood from the forest. Go see if Knuckles is already there."

"Okay..."

Cloud then turned back around. "I'll take care of this. You can just rinse the pot out in the ocean. Don't lose it. And when you come back, bring back the rice."

Foxy just watched from afar.

Shovel Knight suddenly walked past, and he almost jumped when Cloud snapped his finger to get his attention.

"Shovel, Krystal is washing the pot and Greninja is on his way to retrieve more firewood with Knuckles. See if you can locate Rouge and figure out what she is doing."

_"The problem with Cloud is that he basically has no social skills. He already caught heat for looking for the idol, now he's bossing everyone around as if he belongs on the emperors tribe." Foxy told. "I mean, I am a boss where I work at because we're I'm from, they call me Captain Foxy, even though I prefer to just be called Foxy, hahaha! ...But sometimes when I'm around him I feel like I'm a new employee that just got hired. At this point, I seriously believe that Cloud was put on the wrong tribe. Though most likely he thinks that if anyone should be on the Knights tribe than it should be him. After all, Master Hand did point out that he doesn't even want to be an emperor."_

"You guys think that we should start splitting the bamboo soon?" Sheik suddenly came by.

Her idea was immediately shot down by Strife. "No, this is just not the right time. Fire at this moment is the number one priority. And you know what happens when we don't have fire. We can do nothing."

"I know, but that's why I asked people if it was a good idea to start the fire _sooner_."

-/-

"I mean, it just seems that Cloud forgot that you have to be sociable with others that are around you as well. Just like _Sherry_ said in the reunion show in Game Changers. If you can't relate to the others in some way, no one is going to give you any votes..."

She was now conversing with Greninja as they both wandered through a forest.

"I see what you mean." Greninja nodded in agreement. "I mean, if he's trying to be a leader, he should learn how to adapt to his surroundings, and that includes the other nine people on this tribe. For all we know, we could lose the next one due to lack of communication that could cost us later down the road. Communication is key when it comes to the challenges, and if Cloud doesn't realize not _what _he's doing, but _how_ he's doing them, that could get us all in trouble. Besides, Shovel Knight is good at leading as well, just him being like, the... most experienced co-worker or something."

Sheik laughed with him. "You got a point there. Cloud is just trying to be the boss. I mean, this is not the emperors tribe. We're all worker bees over here."

_"At this point, it's pretty much safe to say that people on Chatan including myself and Sheik are starting to feel like we can generally survive out here without Cloud..." Greninja admitted._

"So anyway, maybe if it doesn't rain tonight than out of boredom, Shovel Knight can tell us one of his campfire stories again. Those are actually kind of interesting and funny at the same time."

"Cool." The water-type Pokemon nodded. "...Hey, who do you think is with Shovel Knight, anyway?"

"Hmm..." She placed her finger beneath her chin. "...As far as alliances go? ...No one that I know of. I think everyone's just trying to fit in."

"...You think Shovel would be a good ally to have?" Sheik was now opening the cover of the water well as Greninja placed his canteen on the edge.

"Well, he does seem like a nice guy... Maybe we should approach him. But for right now, let's just continue to talk to him and get to know him for a little bit and we'll see later on. We do plan on heading down to the beach once we take care of this fire situation."

"Alright, I'm fine with that..." Sheik suddenly paused after placing her own canteen on the edge of the well. "And it would also be a good idea anyway..."

"Why is that?" Greninja retrieved the handle that was used to scoop up water.

"...Because you know, it would be a perfect way to test Cloud's social skills as we're all out on the beach together as a tribe."

-/-

Luigi, Greninja, Foxy, Sheik, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Cloud, Knuckles, Rouge, and Krystal were finally out in the water generally having a good time for the most part.

...And as Sheik predicted, though Cloud seemed to be relaxing as he floated in the water, he was sort of separated from the other nine members of Chatan.

Meanwhile, Rouge just so happened to be near Knuckles the Echidna, and she out of nowhere playfully splashed him.

"Hey!" He said as he actually fell in the water, a few seconds passing by as his head then shot out of the water. Yet Knuckles actually smirked as his reaction. "You know what you just did, right?"

"What, a young man can't event take a little water?" The bat also had quite a bit of that smirk on her face, her hand reaching her hip. "You know, we're gonna have a few water challenges. And if a little splash is just enough for you to fall over, I might just call you one of the weakest in challenges."

Foxy, Greninja, Bonnie, and Krystal all were not afraid to laugh and snicker directly in front of Knuckles.

"..." He snickered himself with a blink. "Me? Weak in challenges?"

"Prove it to me, then." She folded her arms. "I offer you a challenge. You have thirty seconds to run all the way down there, then come back."

_"Rouge is pretty cool." Knuckles could not have helped but laugh. "She's a good person to have. Say if I'm mad about something not going right at camp, or if we lose a challenge or somethin', then I have her so I can laugh at... Not laughing at her of course, but with her you know? ...Don't take this the wrong way, 'cause I definitely not the romantic type, especially out here on Survivor 'cause even **I'm** not dumb enough to fall for it...__ But I... think she's a little entertaining if I was being honest, hahaha!"_

Rouge grinned as Knuckles took off in the water.

_"I'm not really trying to purposefully flirt out here." Rouge actually shook her head. "It's just part of my natural personality."_

Sometime afterwards, Bonnie wandered past Knuckles in the water with a large smirk. "Is it working for ya?"

"She's alright." The echidna chortled in response.

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 4**

* * *

_"So because of us not having the advanced shelter making kit," said Roy. "quite a few of our palm fronds ended up falling off the shelter last night during the storm. So now we have to stock up on palm fronds even more, unless we all want to sleep on the sand in the rain, which will then make all of us sick, and then we will **never** win a challenge."_

Overall, the emperors were separated all over the camp, with only Roy, Shulk, Marth, Freddy and Mega Man remaining...

...until Shulk all of a sudden decided to leave. "I'm going to wash my clothes with Zelda in the water..."

No words ended up being spoken as the emperor wandered off as the rest of them in the area continue to work.

"So guys..." Roy began to speak. "What's next?"

"You mean what's best for us as a tribe?" Marth questioned. "Well, for me personally, Ghirahim and Shadow are clearly rubbing people the wrong way. Zelda on the other hand is one of the nicest people I've ever met... besides Peach of course."

"Well, none of them are conveniently here right now." Freddy pointed out. "Let's talk while we can..."

"Well, as much as we all know about the whole 'keeping the tribe strong' thing," Roy talked. "we need to realize is that sometimes keeping the tribe strong is not always going to be our top priority, _especially_ when we all merge. Ghirahim is going to become a physical threat and then we would have to vote him out anyway if we somehow had the numbers at merge. But for now, he's doing a pretty decent job of having a big personality out here..."

"Exactly my thoughts." Marth could not have agreed more. "I am not so sure about Shadow myself. I feel as if he thinks we do not know what we are doing.

"So, who would you guys rather see?" questioned Mega Man.

"I'd rather keep Zelda around to be honest." Fazbear stated his opinion. "Our strategy can't be all about keeping the tribe strong all the time like Roy said. Zelda is a genius at puzzles and she can be a really great help whenever we need her.

"Okay, so that leaves Shadow and Ghirahim..."

"Yeah, basically. But in my opinion, I still want to win a challenge or two." Roy replied. "So I guess our safest option is Shadow. Not the most sociable person here, and also not the absolute strongest in our tribe. Makes sense if you ask me. However, if Ghirahim keeps rubbing people the wrong way, I wouldn't mind seeing his torch snuffed either."

"Well, we have our options open." Mega Man bobbed his head up and down. "That's always a plus. Just as long as we know what we want over here."

_"I feel that if we were to go to Tribal Council at this moment, Shadow the Hedgehog might be the most vulnerable by just a bit." Mega Man predicted. "The tribe isn't on the best terms with him. However, believe it or not, I feel like that I could actually work with Shadow somewhat. One reason being is that Shadow is more likely to listen than Ghirahim, so he's easier to talk to. And like I said before, I'd like to keep Shadow here for now as long as I can just so I can duck under. Although, this means that I have to make sure that it's either gonna be Zelda or Ghirahim. **But**__, this also means that I might have to control Shadow as much as possible to decrease the chances of him being targeted."_

-/-

Luckily enough, Mega Man actually found the time to talk with Shadow individually as Mega Man almost ran into him as Shadow was heading back to the camp, which made Mega Man turn around and follow.

"Mega, when you get a chance, we need to look for the machete. Rumor has it that it has been misplaced and we need to look for it as soon as possible."

"Alright, then..." He said. "...So, who would you rather see go next?"

"Nothing is a hundred percent certain yet, but as of now, my mind is still set on Zelda. She's not the only one that might be good with puzzles."

"Well okay, I guess... Uh, thanks for the compliment?"

"If you think if it was what you made of it, you can take it however you want."

"..._Alright_..." Mega Man blinked, not knowing what to think of Shadow's comments at all. "But anyway, I'm fine with booting off Zelda as well. However, I am worried about how the tribe sees you at the moment."

"Well, I _apologize_ if I don't have the charming personality of Miss 'Princess' Peach Toadstool." He sounded a bit annoyed. "It's just who I am, and if they do not understand, that's their problem."

"...But, Shadow,... see, the thing is, that might make you a target. They might consider on voting you out simply because you don't get along with everybody here. And I'm not saying that just to scare your or anything, but I feel that it's just what they might think. Ghirahim is also in trouble because of this, but even worse. But if you continue on isolating yourself with the rest of the people here, they would kick you first before Ghirahim and Zelda."

Shadow literally stopped whatever he was doing and stared directly in Mega Man's eyes. "...Are you _serious_?"

"You think that I would be having this conversation with you right now that could make me a target like this?" The blue bomber asked. "Shadow, I'm not gonna lie. I really might need you in the future, so I don't think the best thing for you to do is to throw me under the bus, or else we would both be in trouble. I don't care if Ghirahim goes, but I have to have at least one of you stay, because I am trying to stay in this game as long as possible."

"..."

"...?"

_"Last time I checked, Ghirahim was explaining to me, Fazbear, and Shulk that we were apparently on the bottom facing the supposed 'Pair Up Alliance.'" The Mobian recalled. "However, Mega Man of all people is approaching me explaining that I might be a target solely because of where I stand socially. He didn't even mention the alliance that he was supposed to be in at all. So in the end, it could mean two things. Either he is considering on flipping against his own alliance, or the alliance... does not exist... Though the more I think about what Mega had to say, the more likely it's the latter. There is no Pair Up Alliance. So at this point, I need to really figure out what's going on here. As of now, I do not care who goes home. It is time to start gathering intel."_

"We'll talk later." Were Shadow's last words as the two made their way back to the shelter.

* * *

**Knights**

**Night 4**

* * *

For the fourth night on the Chatan tribe, the ten players were out of the shelter and surrounding the campfire, lucky enough that for once mother nature chose to not let it rain.

"And then, by the time me and my partner woke up around seven in the evening, it was getting rather dark out at the time, and we couldn't find our way back because we lost our map a while ago. So to survive we decided that we were going to make a campfire and go from there, and hopefully find our way back home the next day... which of course, we did, because here I am sitting here right now and not being mauled to death by a wild animal."

Most of Shovel Knight's tribemates laughed.

_"Shovel Knight seems to use this time to share to us one of his personal stories with his apparent partner back where he came from. Sort of a way to pass the time while we're out here in the wilderness. Not bad, I suppose. Probably his own way of expressing himself to the rest of us. Oh, by the way, he doesn't say 'partner' as if she's someone that works with him. It's basically his own professional way of saying 'girlfriend.'" Rouge laughed._

"How did you meet your partner?" asked the curious vixen.

"Ah..." Shovel Knight actually paused as he remained staring at the fire. "It's sort of a long story. Do you all think that now is the most appropriate time? It is getting quite late."

"Oh, don't worry about it." Rouge waved it off. "We got plenty of time right here on Kodai Island. Our curiosity is simply getting the better of us. Just go ahead and spill."

"Well, alright then." He decided to do it. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt..."

_"So I did leave behind a partner from back home and her name is Shield Knight." The shovel wielder spoke himself. "We were always quite the duo; almost always going on every single adventure together. To this day I wonder how and why in the world she would choose me of all people to be with me of all people, but I guess she knew that we have such a lot in common. We share every memory together, and now it will forever remain that way after I thought I've lost her for good went she went missing one day. ...But I dunno if I should go into details at the moment, but what I do know is from that day on, I knew that we would always be with each other through thick and thin... And maybe she herself could give this competition a chance someday."_

He was now sharing a laugh once again with his fellow Chatan members.

_"Shovel Knight is rather interesting." Greninja commented. "I really like the guy and I think I can be genuine friends with him outside of this. But that also means that maybe he would be a good person to have for my game. I didn't have a chance to interact with him in a one on one conversation, but I'm sure I will be speaking with him soon."_

* * *

**Okay, so this is the shortest chapter in the story so far, thanks to the opening, the first three days, and then the first Tribal Council. But at least you guys get some sort of a break this time and learn what the emperors were doing after Peach were sent home, and how things were with the Knights. Hmm... For the latter nothing big seems to be happening yet except for Cloud and his lack of social skills, and the whole Rouge and Knuckles thing, finishing things off with Shovel Knight (Just so you know, Krystal will finally get a confessional next chapter. Consider this to be "Episode 2" is this were an actual TV series so this is good lol.)**

**On the other hand, at this moment at the Emperors tribe, there are three targets that are up for consideration for their next Tribal Council, Zelda, Shadow, and Ghirahim. However, certain people (Mega Man and Freddy) are playing their own individual game just for themselves. So this means that the emperors are playing for themselves while the knights so far are all about tribe harmony. They even tested how Cloud would interact with the other nine members at the beach today. Interesting.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Where would Shadow go from here?  
**

**2\. Do you think Cloud is going to realize that when it comes to the social aspect of the game, then he should... you know, step it up? lol**

**Vote on your top five players of this season if you haven't already and I will see you all again soon!**


	6. Chapter 6: Day 5 & Day 6 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 6 - Day 5 & Day 6 Part 1

**Welcome back to chapter six of fifty of this story! Not that much to say here, so let's focus on what today's chapter is going to cover. More socializing, surviving, and strategizing and the day six immunity challenge (this time it's going to be from Survivor - Millennials vs Gen X). Losers go to tribal where someone will be the second person voted out of the game. Hope and cross your fingers that it is not your fav!**

**...I _really_ don't have anything interesting to say here do I? Oh well, here we go...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 5**

* * *

The following day, the ten Chatan members were off doing their own thing. There were not that many chores that needed to be taken care of, so for the most part, they spent time having some casual conversations, with the occasional strategy here and there.

Krystal in particular was sitting by the beach doing laundry in the water.

_"It was actually kinda nice hearing Shovel Knight explain his story last night. I just find it surprising that he actually spilled the beans of his own backstory, ya know? Because I guarantee that some of us are hiding what happened in our own personal lives before we all got here... including me..." She took the time to wipe a couple tears from her eyes. "All I did was tell people that I am a space pilot for a living. But there is a much bigger truth here. ...I am the last known survivor from my home planet Cerinia... And the worst part about is that I don't even know what happened..."_

At that point while she was rinsing her clothes, she appeared to be thinking of it all once more, rubbing her eyes with her free hand.

_"I don't even know what happened to my parents, let alone the planet that I came from. I've been trying to figure out the answers to the many questions I have for the longest time. ...But I will find those answers..." She nodded confidently. "...Someday..."_

Meanwhile, Sheik and Greninja managed to find Shovel Knight near the treemail as he was exploring the camp he was in, figuring that if he was going to be there for a certain amount of time, he may as well enjoy it for the remaining time that he had out on the island.

"Hey there." Sheik spoke first.

"Oh, hello!" He grinned with glee. "Just out here exploring as usual. Kodai Island is such a beautiful place!"

"I agree." The female ninja nodded. "But anyway, me and Greninja over here wanted to talk to you about something. ...Greninja, look around to see if anyone's coming..."

He did a quick eye search around the area as Sheik whispered that last part of her statement.

"Okay..." She started. "We generally like you. And you know in this game you need as many allies as possible to proceed, but that's why we've come to you. Has anyone else approached and talk to you about being close allies or anything?"

He put a finger beneath his chin. "Not that I know of..."

"Well," Greninja finally started to talk with small grin. "would you take the opportunity to have the two of us right here?"

"..." After blinking, the shovel knight began to chuckle a little bit. "Well I don't see why not, I guess! Tomorrow we're going to have our next immunity challenge and the last thing I desire is to be blindsided and be the very first person voted out of my tribe!"

"We're official, then." Greninja shook hands with him. "I don't think your name is gonna come up as of now, but even if it does, we'll protect you. Knights have each other!"

_"I guess I'm going to be part of an alliance now, haha! Ever since I've been here, I can't say that I was exactly 'trying' to be an alliance with someone. I just had the desire to simply be myself, explore while I can, make friends, and have fun! ...And also to be the Sole Survivor of course. But, apparently, I'm needed for others. And if they need me, that means I need them. For all I know, people could be talking behind my back at this very moment and I would not even know what is going on around here. Hmm... I guess it would not hurt a bit if I approached someone..."_

-/-

Luigi at that point was all alone in the shelter simply watching the fire that stood before him. But then he suddenly saw the pot leaning a little too much over the fire.

With a sudden gasp, Luigi quickly dashed over to said pot the moment Shovel Knight showed up as they re-balanced the pot in order to avoid the water spilling out on top of the fire, which of course would have been anything but good for the Knights tribe, especially for anyone that was named Cloud Strife.

"You got it?"

"Yeah, I got it." Luigi nodded. "Just trying to avoid having an unhappy tribe because of no fire."

"Yes. Fire is basically ninety percent to our survival on the island." Shovel Knight reminded. "So how are you doing as of now?"

"I'm fine, I guess." Luigi of the Mario Bros. took his hat off his head, thinking that somehow a bug managed to enter his hat due to him feeling as if a bug was crawling through his hair. Realizing that it was not the case, he placed it back on his head. "Just trying to make it as far as I can, you know?"

"Afraid of being the first one out of the tribe?" Shovel Knight cocked his head to the side.

He immediately nodded as if there was no day six in Survivor. "Absolutely. I mean, even though I helped Rouge win that challenge for you all, I still as if I'm the obvious weak link here that needs to get out first for the sake of physical strength on the team..."

The actual knight of the group of ten actually blinked being quite surprised a bit. "...You?"

"I mean, it's obvious..." He shifted his eyes diagonally to the side with hands behind his back. "You know that on every tribe in the history of Survivor there's obviously going to be the weakest link. And for this tribe in particular, it is none other than me... Maybe not solely based off physical strength, but for other things as well, such as... the tribe possibly thinking that I'm insecure..."

Shovel Knight could not have believed that Luigi was thinking that way. To him, there was absolutely no reason for Luigi to be so hard on himself. "Well, I don't necessarily assume that there is a weak link on the tribe at all, even though I understand where you are coming from. But nobody on here is worrying about a 'weak' link. If anything, people are irritated at Cloud for him dictating the rest of the tribe."

Luigi sighed as he waved it off. "Maybe you're right, sorry... Maybe it is just me being insecure out here. I'll admit that, though... I've had my fair share of insecurities growing up, and maybe I'm just wondering what people think of me. Not that I care too much of what people think based off what I accomplished with my bro, but we both know that things are different in Survivor. Reputation and perception is everything."

_"Luigi is a fish out of water even though he is on the Knights tribe. I can not even blame him thinking that he is the weakest member, since he is normally the type that gets picked off first, and in most circumstances, Luigi would fall right in that category. And as a result, he is simply uncertain and nervous if we had to go to Tribal Council tomorrow night. But it doesn't have always have to happen that way... I think he needs someone that will reach out for him. And if I have to be that person, then I am willing to work with him. I just feel downright sorry for him because I know that he is a smart guy. Maybe he just needs to work on his social skills..."_

"Do not beat yourself up over it. We are all worried about being the first to go, but I have my own reasons to why I feel in danger at times. But that is why it is important to play this game for others. I don't know if you've been strategizing with anyone or not, but if you haven't, then..." Shovel Knight's extended his arms out lazily for a quick second. "I'm here."

Luigi grinned. "Thanks."

"No problem." He replied. "Don't think that it is over for you just because of your physical status in comparison to the rest of us. But if you honestly feel that way, just continue on as normal. Continue to work on the shelter or whatever needs to be done around here, but... maybe start sharing some conversations with others in order to build relationships. The more you interact with them in some way, the more likely people are going to understand you and who you are as a person. You don't have to purposefully try to impress others just for the sake of it, but... simply be yourself."

He nodded and kept his grin, this time showing teeth. "Alright, maybe I can work on my interactions with these people. Thank you, Shovel."

"You know, for starters I would check in on Greninja and Sheik. They seem to be rather fine individuals to be around."

_"I like S__hovel Knight." The tall plumber had to admit. "He really helped me today. I have my own reasons to why I feel that I could be in trouble, and he has his own reasons to why he could be the first to go. We just have to do what we can. But if we are in fact in trouble, if he wants to be my emperor, then I can be his knight. He suggested that I need to work on my relationships with others. So perhaps he could be a good start."_

* * *

**Day 6**

* * *

For the second immunity challenge of the season, there were a series of obstacles that were followed by a large chair with ropes tied up to it. Up above were three rows of numbered bags ranging from one to thirty, with two tables that stood near the end, one being for each team.

"Come on in, guys!"

The Knights tribe all came in with an overall confident attitude, stepping onto their yellow mat one by one, ignoring the thunder that sounded.

Soon afterwards, the emperors showed up.

"Knights, get your first look of the new Nago tribe." Master Hand announced. "Peach voted out at the first Tribal Council."

As a summary, the Chatan members nodded in response, none of them being surprised at all.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?"

The castaways answered 'yes' in a variety of ways.

"First things first, I'll take back the immunity idol."

Krystal walked it over and gave the idol back to the Master Hand, who then placed it on a nearby stand.

"Once again immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, three people from each team will head over to a series of obstacles. Each time, that same person will be in a chair, to which five people from each team will have to pull up to retrieve all thirty bags in numerical order, with one person from the five collecting ten bags at the time. Once you have all thirty bags, you will untie each one to reveal a lettered tile that will help you solve a Survivor phrase, in which the remaining four team members will complete. First tribe that finishes win immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the second person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights."

"In addition, you're playing for a reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?" He went over to a nearby wooden table. "The winning tribe will win... _fishing gear_."

Upon removing the cloth covering the items, the tribes could not have been any more elated. "You know you want it this early in the game. Nets, traps, bait, and to top it all off, a boat will be waiting for you back at camp. I know that judging by your reactions, it is _definitely_ worth playing for. Before we start, Chatan, you gotta sit somebody out. Who's it gonna be?"

Chatan had a brief discussion.

"...Luigi, you think you can solve the puzzle?" asked Cloud.

"I think I can." He nimbly nodded. "I did it right for the first challenge."

"Alright, knights. Who's it gonna be?" Master Hand was ready.

Krystal raised her hand.

"Krystal is sitting out. Take a spot on the bench over there." The host of Survivor pointed. "Everybody else, I'm gonna give you a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go." Master Hand said. "Shadow is going to run the obstacle course first for the emperors, and Knuckles is gonna try it first for he knights. Playing for immunity and reward. Survivors ready?"

Shadow and Knuckles both got into running positions.

"..._**GO!**_"

The moment they immediately they took off, down came the rain. Both anthropomorphic animals wasted no time getting over the slightly inclined net for the first obstacle, before beginning to leap over five bars.

"Impressive! Shadow and Knuckles are _blazing_ through the course!" Master Hand noted. "Shadow is just up ahead by a couple seconds!"

As the teams cheered, the two males leaped over those bars with little to no trouble, before beginning to quickly get through the side-step obstacle, yet Knuckles seemed to have a little more strength in the legs, almost completely catching up to the opposition.

As a result, both representatives of their respective tribes got in the chair around the same time as each of them pulled a lap bar over them for safety reasons. Knuckles was already reaching above him with one of his arms.

"Okay, pull! Pull me up!"

"Now you gotta use that rope to pull your tribemate up to those numbered bags!"

Ghirahim, Freddy, Shulk, and Roy were all pulling on Shadow while Cloud, Foxy, Greninja, and Bonnie were all pulling on Knuckles.

"Both tribes doing a good job! For now Shadow and Knuckles have to get numbers one through ten! ...Shadow is one number ahead as he is getting number four. Knuckles has his third bag."

Cloud ended up having a piece of rope stuck around him as he tried to purposefully run off a little, using his entire body to pull onto the rope, as both chairs had to quickly be risen up, or dropped down slightly to get the bags in numerical order.

"Shadow is done."

"Okay, go, go, go!" shouted Shulk as he, Ghirahim, Roy, and Freddy all ran forward with the rope to drop Shadow down carefully. And by the time he done so, he picked up two different piles of the ten tiles he collected, placing them all down on the table. At that point, Knuckles began to do the same, only making one trip.

"Go, knights!"

Greninja began to make his way to the obstacle course the moment when Roy was getting ready to take his turn on it.

"Emperors have a bit of a lead!"

Now Greninja knew that he had to catch up, nimbly getting over the first obstacle and immediately getting to the bars.

Marth from his group of puzzle makers clapped his hands. "Keep ahead of him, Roy!"

"Roy's now back! Greninja coming up!"

"Pull as hard as you possibly can!" shouted Ghirahim as his team of emperors plus Shadow all pulled on.

"Greninja is back! Start pulling him up!"

"Okay a little higher!" Greninja ordered as he was now retrieving bag number thirteen.

"This time you're getting numbers eleven through twenty." Master Hand reminded everyone as he watched the two tribes continuing to work together. "Emperors still have a bit of a lead, but the knights are clearly not giving up."

By the time Roy was done, the four team members pulling onto him quickly, yet carefully dropped him down.

"Roy trying to make one trip and he's struggling... Go, emperors!"

Freddy began to make his way back as Greninja was finally done retrieving tiles, having an easier time taking one trip to drop his tiles off on the table.

"Go, knights! It is going to be Freddy versus Foxy now..."

Both players knew they had to get through the obstacle fast no matter who was in the lead.

"Foxy is _flying_ through this as if his life depends on it. He is certainly gonna close that gap!"

And by the time those two completed the course, it was nearly neck and neck.

"You are now picking up numbers twenty-one through thirty. Afterwards, you can start working on the puzzle." Master Hand glanced above him to check the weather. "Rain coming down _hard_."

Though of course they still continued, the emperors having a slightly harder time with Freddy since he was heavier, causing him to be nearly dead even with Foxy, giving him a slight advantage in the end.

"Knights, you're good! Start working on the puzzle!"

And nearly a dozen seconds later, down came Freddy Fazbear.

"...Emperors, you're good! Puzzle makers, start working!"

At that point, it was Luigi, Sheik, Rouge, and Shovel Knight working on the phrase for the yellow team, which meant that Mega Man, Zelda, Pac-Man, and Marth were all trying to solve it for the red team.

"Flip each tile over." Sheik suggested. "We need to see how many of these we really need..."

"Okay, we have six blank spaces, which means that we are only using twenty-four letters here." Zelda confirmed. "Toss the blank ones aside and we can start with the words that are most simple than the ones that might be a little bit more complicated."

"Good plan." Marth nodded in agreement, mixing a few letters together in order for him to test whatever word he was thinking in his mind. "One word has... twelve letters..."

Pac-Man turned and faced Zelda. "How are we going to figure out a word that has twelve letters?"

"We have to." Zelda responded, she and Mega Man following Marth's strategy. "We can not afford to lose again..."

The rest of the castaways, including Krystal, all observed the puzzle makers doing their job, hoping that whatever team they were on solved the unknown phrase first.

_**Elapsed Time: 20 Minutes**_

"You have now been out here twenty minutes." Master Hand floated in between the two puzzle making stations. "Luckily the rain has stopped, but you all have been out here for a while. Seems to be a recurring theme in this challenge. Starting from Millennials vs Gen X, this phrase right here seems to be a little more difficult than anticipated."

Shovel Knight had a hand on his head. "Come on, Shovel... _Think_..."

"But what word has twelve letters that we might know?" Sheik asked no one in particular, using some of the blank tiles to cover up whatever they came up with at the time due to Ghirahim looking over to cheat and mouth to his team.

"Ugh..." The emperor himself slapped his face out of frustration. "This is _ridiculous_..."

Pac-Man was rubbing his finger beneath his mouth. "Looks like this is going to be a_ little_ trickier than I thought..."

Ghirahim mumbled. "Thank you, _Captain Obvious_..."

Luigi had absolutely no clue, shaking his head and taking a moment to scratch it.

"Well..." Mega Man stared at the progress Nago had made at the time. "So far we have 'do not', so obviously it's telling us that we shouldn't do something..."

"What _shouldn't_ we do, then?" Marth asked.

"Well as far as I know, neither of the P's we have can make a word that is two letters. I doubt 'up' is one of them..."

Pac-Man sighed and placed down an 'O' at a random spot of the last word and eyed the rest of his the puzzle makers. "We have to come up with _something_..."

"..." After a blink, Mega Man decided to arrange the O and the two P's at the beginning of said word, widening his eyes after a couple moments. "Oh my god..."

"...You think it's 'opportunity?'" guessed Zelda. "I was already thinking of that five letter word... 'do not' ... 'waste'?"

"...Emperors out of nowhere are quickly scrambling!"

Suddenly the emperors all turned around announcing that they figured out the phrase Master Hand was looking for. With the host of the game show looking over, much the knights already disappointing and worried actions.

"...'Do Not Waste The Opportunity!'" Marth read out loud.

"_**EMPERORS WIN IMMUNITY AND**** REWARD!**_"

Mega Man, Marth, Zelda, Pac-Man, and the rest of the Nago team all cheered together within an instant. Their dream of winning the next immunity challenge came true at long last.

Of course on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Chatan tribe could not have been any more disappointed.

"Unbelievable..." Cloud complained with a head shake.

-/-

The nineteen, soon to become eighteen survivors of 'Emperors vs Knights' all stood on their respective colored mats.

"Emperors, congratulations." Master Hand gave Zelda the immunity idol, who nodded in acknowledgement of their victory. "You all clearly sounded like you needed it. Guess that win was well deserved."

Some of Zelda's tribe members could not have agreed more.

"And in addition, you also earned your fishing gear." The Survivor host reminded. "...And one more thing..."

Literally everyone including the Knights tribe all froze in place.

"Because of the fact that you all won immunity, you now get to choose one person from the Knights tribe to go to... _**Exile Island**_."

Jaws dropped, hands were on their own faces, bodies were seemingly frozen stiff, and some eyes never blinked.

Freddy was one of those jaw dropping individuals. "..._Oh my god_..."

Greninja slowly facepalmed himself in disbelief.

"You all will choose one person to go to Exile Island." Master Hand restated. "By doing so, not only you are sending someone where they can't bond with anybody, but you are also sending someone that will _not_ attend tonight's Tribal Council, meaning that they will automatically make it to day seven. I assume you all need a minute to discuss with each other."

The yellow tribe all stared as the opposition conversed with one another.

"...Alright, Nago. Who's it gonna be?"

...

"...We're gonna send Shovel Knight." Freddy announced.

Shovel Knight lowered his head while still staring at Fazbear in particular.

"_Shovel Knight_." Master Hand called. "You are officially going to stay on Exile Island. You will not return until tomorrow morning on day seven."

He sighed with a shake of his head, his head not completely being lowered.

"Just one more moment..." He apparently was not done at the time. "In addition to yourself, now your team has to decide who will be joining him from the Nago tribe."

Everyone was shocked in disbelief once again, yet at that time, a few of the knights were seemingly excited, whereas the emperors for the most part simply stood.

"Start discussing..."

As Shovel Knight had already stepped off his mat, the rest of his tribe were all huddled up as they talked it out.

"Alright, knights. Who are you sending with Shovel Knight?"

"...We're gonna send Marth over there." announced Greninja.

"Marth, step away from your tribe."

With a sigh, he stepped off his mat.

"_Dang_..." Roy mumbled under his breath.

"That poor guy..." Pac-Man felt sorry for him.

"Alright, so here's what is gonna happen..." Master Hand wanted to make himself clear. "Both of you will get on a boat and head off to Exile Island and spend the night. There is nothing over there, so you two will have to work together in order to survive alone. The good news is of course, neither of you will be going home, even though Marth's tribe already won immunity. The bad news is that neither of you can be with your tribe and bond with anybody."

Neither of them made any sort of reaction.

"Alright, your boat is waiting for you. Head on out. Emperors, congratulations. You guys can head back to camp." The Hand dismissed ten of castaways and took one last glance at Chatan. "Knights, unfortunately this is your first loss ever in this game and I got nothing for ya but a date with me at Tribal Council where someone will be the second person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. I will see you all tribal. Head on out."

_"Sort of a double loss here... First we all got to go to tribal, now Shovel Knight is being sent to Exile Island. I don't know why they chose him of all people, maybe they just wanted to pick a random person, maybe they figured he's worked hard around camp or something, but it is what it is. After tonight, the numbers will be even. I said before that I wanted this tribe to continue to be at peace, but I guess the peace has to be disturbed somehow and it was gonna happen anyway." Bonnie shrugged with a smirk. "Oh well. Guess we gotta just deal with it, get it over with, and move forward. Life goes on."_

* * *

**...Surprise! I'm bringing Exile Island into this! Hahaha!**

**I've always wanted to make a season that included Exile Island, and I figured it wouldn't hurt if I do it this season. Exile Island has basically been a staple since Survivor - Exile Island (even though it kinda basically happened one time in Palau), and so it's my turn to do it. It's not gonna take cover the entirety of the game. Just for like, half of the pre-merge. Like Master Hand said: Exile Island has its cons and pros. No Tribal Council for either of them, yet it's... basically gonna be heck for them lol. It's always been a miserable place whoever goes there.**

**Questions:**

**1\. How do you expect Marth and Shovel Knight to interact with one another?**

**2\. Who might be in trouble on the knights tribe?**

**3\. Who is seemingly in the safest position of Chatan?**

**Vote for your top five players this season and I will see you soon where the next person will be voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights! I'll add this challenge to my profile!**


	7. Chapter 7: Day 6 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 7 - Day 6 Part 2

**(I've completely forgot to mention that "Sherry" that was briefly mentioned two chapters ago meant Cirie Fields from Season 12, Survivor - Exile Island.)**

**Alright, it is time for our second elimination. This time, the emperors are safe as they finally win their first challenge, which means that after this upcoming Tribal Council, each team will be down to nine members each. But before we get to the Knights tribe today, we have to cover Exile Island with Shovel Knight and Marth. Pretty interesting because this is the first time I ever had only two people in only one specific location on a season so let's see how it works.**

**As far as the Knights tribe are concerned, the other ten people this season now need to figure out who's going on. When Nago went to Tribal Council, they made a unanimous decision to vote out Peach and send her home. Will the same thing happen with the Knights tribe? Or will it be just a little more complicated?**

**~KF**

* * *

**Exile Island **

**Day 6**

* * *

Shovel Knight and Marth had just been dropped off at Exile Island, and to their expectations, there was basically nothing but themselves.

Currently, the two were simply standing around in the sand.

"..."

"..."

"...So I guess we might as well make _something_ here..." Shovel Knight stared in all directions. "...At least we won't return to our respective tribes until tomorrow..."

"I agree." Marth blinked. "Well, if you think about it, it is not as terrible as it may seemed. It's simply as if we're a temporary tribe of two, and we leave out the next day..."

_"I never predicted that Exile Island was even going to be a part of this season." Shovel Knight admitted. "And the emperors chose me to be here, when there is literally nothing but just a regular beach as if I never left my camp. Though I imagine if I came here alone then it would have been terrible because it would have been a big task to perform all the duties around camp all by myself, so I'm thankful that at least someone is accompanying me, even if he came from the opposition."_

"Did we at least get a flint?" Marth asked the new face.

"Nope. Nothing."

"...Well, I guess we can use this time to get to know each other, then. Maybe we can try and build some sort of shelter, unless we should focus almost exclusively on making a fire."

"I'd go with the latter option. We're only remaining here for one sight. I'd rather have a lack of sleep than consuming nothing and dehydration... I wouldn't mind a little exploring for a few..."

"Sounds good to me..." Marth Lowell stared at the pathway that led deeper in the woods.

-/-

"So Marth, is it? What do you do for a living?"

"I'm a swordsman."

"Ah..."

_"I think I'll have some respect for Shovel Knight over here." Marth presumed. "He is quite friendly. One of my main goals is to interact with others that are playing this game, and I do personally see myself being friends outside the game. What stands out about him is that I use a sword to defend myself. He uses a shovel. ...Now **that**_ _for sure is something you do not see every day in battle."_

"I mean, I'm not calling it a useless weapon at all," It was currently the topic of the discussion at the time. "but it is something that is quite unique indeed... If anyone used that as a weapon in Altea, they... How do I exactly put this?"

Shovel Knight already figured out the answer. "They would not take it seriously?"

"...I'm sorry..."

"Hahaha!" The knight of the Knights tribe actually laughed at that. "Don't worry about it, Mr. Lowell! It is not as if it is surprising or anything. Besides, I like to prove people wrong anyway. I just personally like to use my shovel to fight. You don't always have to use the usual."

"Yes, I do find that quite interesting to say the least."

_"I don't know how much time will I spend with Shovel Knight in the future as of now, but I think that we will get along quite well out here in a place like this."_

"So anyway, I bet is pretty depressing for someone like Peach to go out this early. I really wished I could have met her somehow."

Marth sighed in response. "I'd rather not talk about it at the moment. Just thinking of her walking down those stairs made me feel quite sorry for Toadstool. She deserved to remain in the game... Say, what's that standing in the distance?"

Shovel Knight was already looking ahead, noticing something in the distance. "I do not know... But perhaps it's supposed to be the treemail for this island..."

"Hmm... Interesting..."

By the time they got to it, Shovel Knight retrieved an envelope from a basket that was sitting on top of box. After opening it, he began to read out loud so that Marth would not have had to worry about leaning in closer.

_"It was a good thing I suggested to Marth that we might as well explore out here!" The shovel warrior stated. "Exploring is a personal hobby of mine back at home. Now I have more of a reason to why I do it. You never know what you can find!"_

"...You've been sent to Exile Island." He read. "Both of you are now guaranteed to make it to day seven. But there's a twist..."

Marth watched as Shovel Knight lowered his eyes to read the rest of the text.

"...Congratulations. You... found a clue to a hidden immunity idol!?"

Lowell immediately widened his eyes in reaction standing back a little. "...Hidden immunity idol? Here?"

"Well, there have been idols out here on exile in the past." Shovel Knight replied as he kept staring at the letter in front of his eyes to read on. "However, unlike seasons past, the hidden immunity idol is actually hidden back at your camp... Ah, so it's back where I belong..."

That was when Marth popped an eyebrow. "...You mean back where _you_ belong?"

His eyes kept scanning across the text. "This is the clue to the hidden immunity idol on both the Nago and Chatan beaches..."

"...Ah, okay..." Marth nodded in understanding.

_"I have no idea why those knight sent me to exile,..." Marth shook his head in wonder before suddenly grinning. "but no matter what, now I'm glad that they did! I feel like I am just one step further in the game... However, since the idol is not on Exile Island and actually back on the Nago beach, I have a strong feeling that I need to be rather subtle about looking for it when I get back to my tribe tomorrow..."_

"So," The blue-haired member of Nago asked another question. "where does it say the idol is located?"

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 6**

* * *

Back on Chatan, the remaining nine members nimbly made it back to their camp. However, one castaway in particular that was carrying the tribe flag was not exactly in the best of moods.

And his name was Cloud Strife.

He was walking slightly faster than everyone else, which led him to being the first one to return to the camp, quickly setting their flag down, his face not being quite satisfied at the results of the challenge. Digging in his bag, he drew out his canteen and began to make his way over to the water well.

All eight of his tribemates that were coming behind of course noticed it.

"...Okay, so obviously Cloud's upset..." Sheik blinked.

_"Without question, Cloud is one of those people that does not like to lose." Greninja concluded. "We were neck and neck with those emperors in the beginning, but then out of nowhere they completed the puzzle. I mean, I don't even blame Strife, because I myself am not exactly a fan of losing. But hey, it's not the end of the world. At least we can be hopeful that we can win the next challenge."_

"Who's gonna follow him _this_ time?" asked Krystal.

Knuckles, Foxy, Rouge, Luigi, Sheik, Bonnie, and Greninja all exchanged glances toward one another.

"Guess I'll go after him..." Bonnie raised his hand. "Someone has to be with him anyway in case he decides to look for an idol again..."

"What if the idol is on Exile Island?" Rouge questioned.

"It is possible, but then again, what if it's not?" Bonnie responded as he began to follow Cloud's direction.

"That's actually a valid point..." said Greninja.

_"Perhaps I took my anger a bit too far, but it is my initial reaction whenever something is so close, yet so far. I really wanted to win the challenge today." Cloud said. "But at the puzzle, people were all over the place. We only had like two words put together by the time the red tribe completed their puzzle. But now since we lost, we have to eat one our own."_

He was pouring water into his canteen as Bonnie Roberts was seen in the distance.

_"I'll do whatever it takes for me to survive this tribal. My main motivation to do well is to apply myself to whatever I'm assigned. I used to be a soldier. But now I am simply a mercenary that will take any job possible. Whatever it is, I know that I could accomplish my goals in whatever way possible. Obviously when it comes to Survivor, it is no different and clearly my job this time is to simply win a million dollars. But the question is, what exactly do I have to do to win?"_

Bonnie Roberts finally caught up. "Hey, you alright?"

"I'm okay..." He answered, taking the canteen that Bonnie had in his hand to fill it up. "Just need a few minutes to calm myself down. Losing is not something that I am exactly fond of, so what is best for us, as well as the tribe altogether, is to simply make sure this team is going in the right direction."

"Who do you suggest?"

Unbeknownst to the both of them, there stood Rouge not too far behind them as she hid behind a rock.

"Well, my strong suggestion is the green-claded plumber of the Mario Bros." Strife answered. "He's not exactly the strongest of the bunch, and he claims that he's bright at puzzles, using the first challenge to back him up. However, he didn't perform in that role today. Only the simplest of the words were put together and when it came to the longest, he had no clue on what to think when it came to it. I mean, he is a good guy and all, but I'd rather not have us hurt him in the future. We're already set to be the underdogs of the season, and I personally feel we need a strong team in this competition."

"I'd say that argument does make sense." Bonnie shrugged his shoulders in agreement. "But I guess it depends on what the tribe thinks about it. Even though Shovel is on exile with Marth, nine is still a large number so you never know where people's minds are at."

With a few more seconds, Rouge turned around and walked away.

_"With my talented spy agent skills, I've heard a name come up." Rouge smirked. "Cloud threw Luigi's name out saying that he's physically weaker than the rest of us. Now I have to tell everybody."_

And she did. Luckily some of her tribemates were still at the shelter: Foxy, Greninja, Krystal, and Knuckles.

"Hi, everyone." She wandered towards them. "Cloud wants Luigi out of the game."

"He did?"

"Yes." She nodded to Greninja, still keeping her smirk on her face. "I heard him say so myself. Thoughts?"

"Well, okay. I don't mind that." Greninja answered. "His choice is understandable anyway. ...But who do you guys think Luigi will write down?"

"Nobody other than Cloud I guess." Krystal hypothesized. "He is the only other possible choice he would see at the moment due to obvious reasons."

_"I do not know who exactly the tribe as a whole wants to send packing. I don't even know if Luigi is the weakest physically, but I guess it's maybe a combination of everything or something. I dunno." The vixen admitted. "For me personally, I'm just sticking with the numbers here. If they all want Luigi out, then that's who I'm voting for. If they all want Cloud out, then that's who I'm voting for. But so far, the tribe wants to be as strong as possible, and Luigi isn't the strongest competitor. However, if something changes out of nowhere, then I have to make sure that I'm not on the sinking ship. I'm not trying to be exactly on the radar this early in the game."_

As Greninja and Krystal wandered off elsewhere, there left Rouge, Foxy, and Knuckles.

"You boys find sending Luigi home even though there's this certain individual that's digging his own grave that we know all too well?" Rouge asked the two males with her.

"See, if this was some other point in the game, I would actually think more about it." Knuckles answered. "But right now? _This _early in the game? I'm all about strength. One hundred percent. Like, coming from me of all people, strength is everything. Sure I'll feel bad for voting Luigi and all, but that's just how the game works. The emperors already voted out their weakest member, so now it's our turn."

"Mmm-_hmm_." With a hand on her hip, she face the other red anthropomorphic animal. "What do _you_ think Foxy boy?"

"I think the same." His arms were folded. "But not only that Luigi is the weakest compared to the rest of us, even if we keep him around, he'll then become a social underdog threat in the future and will then get jury votes. Now is the most appropriate time to get rid of him while we can and then we'll deal with Cloud later."

"You're not wrong." Rouge shook. "I mean, if we're gonna vote out Cloud, I'd personally like to wait at least one more vote to do it."

_"Even though Cloud clearly isn't the most sociable player here, right now since our tribe has lost the immunity challenge. This season is set up for the emperors to dominate, and right now we need to make sure that they don't dominate this game, especially in the challenges." Foxy explained. "We wanna win challenges as well, so Luigi is the most logical choice. I just need to make sure where Bonnie's at since we made an agreement to tell each other what's going on and how people are voting."_

Not too far from them, Luigi was sitting in the sand thinking to himself.

_"It's quite obvious that I'm a target for tonight's Tribal Council. Of course I wished Shovel Knight would have stayed because he was the main one that I could trust in this game so far, and now he's on exile, which I wish I was chosen instead so that I can be safe, but things just didn't turn out that way. However, even though Shovel Knight has left the island, his advice never gone anywhere. He told me that I needed to start conversing with others in order to build social relationships. I've been going to Greninja and Sheik like he said, so I guess I gotta talk to them in case and figure out where their heads are at knowing that I'm on the chopping block..."_

-/-

He finally found them, who were accompanied by Bonnie and Krystal standing near the tribe flag.

"So..." He started. "How are you guys doing over here?"

"We're fine, I suppose..." Greninja nodded as he stared off to the side. "Just curious to see what Tribal Council looks like..."

He dreaded the thought of it all. Not by the looks of the tribal, but simply fearing the worst at what was supposed to happened as far as the vote was concerned, which was just what Luigi wanted to bring up. "So uh, what do you guys think the best move is?"

The four exchanged glances for a bit, Bonnie deciding to keep his mouth closed and let the others do all the talking.

"I think all... _eight_ of us should vote for the person who just doesn't fit in well with the rest of us..." Greninja ended up speaking.

"Cloud?"

"Yeah." The water-type Pokemon bobbed his head up and down. "He's been isolating himself since the start, he tried looking for the idol on day two while we were all asleep, and he's basically a dictator at camp. I feel like losing Cloud will make our lives a lot easier."

"Yeah, I agree with Greninja." Sheik nodded. "I feel like Cloud is gonna eventually mess this tribe up and then we're all dysfunctional as if we are trying so hard to let one of the emperors a million dollars."

"Cloud says that Luigi is the weakest one here, though..." Bonnie Roberts brought up, shifting his head to the man himself. "He threw your name out there..."

"Well,... ugh... okay to some degree I can understand where Cloud is coming from..." Greninja hated to admit. "_But_, even though Cloud is as strong as he is, I feel like the more we keep him around, the more dangerous he will be. He will not only because a physical threat at merge time but probably a dangerous one as well. I won't even be surprised if he were to flip on us."

"Valid point." Bonnie folded his arms. "But I still want to win challenges, and this _is_ our first Tribal Council."

"Hmm..." Sheik placed her wrist against her hip. "We gotta make a _big_ decision here."

_"We are looking at two completely different players here." Greninja stated. "On one hand, we have Luigi who is supposedly less physical than the rest of us, yet we feel that he can be more loyal and more trustworthy. On the other hand, we have Cloud who is the strongest person on the tribe, yet does a really great job at isolating himself from the rest of us that is unlikely to have that big of a social game, with the possibility of him being completely untrustworthy... But hey, at least he can help us win challenges... I don't know what is worse... __I don't know what television will make of it, but __sometimes in Survivor, you just gotta take risks. This isn't even the first Tribal Council of the season. I will give it just a bit more thought just to make sure, but if we have to vote out the strongest person on the tribe in order for us to keep tribe harmony, then that's the risk we just have to take. It's not just challenges. It's about tribe unification and everything else."_

"I mean, just because Cloud is the strongest of our tribe does not mean we're not strong at all. This is a very strong team." The Pokemon said. "I'm a strong person, Sheik's a strong person, Bonnie's a strong person, Knuckles, Foxy, Rouge, Krystal, and it's not like Luigi has a severe lack of any physical capability. Cloud only called Luigi a weak link to compare him to everyone here, not because he is a weak link at all."

"Very valid points." Sheik nodded in agreement. "You're not wrong at that. I mean, I'm pretty sure if Shovel was here he would vote for Cloud, anyway. We can still pull it together and win challenges whether Cloud is here or not. Besides, for some teams of the show, even when they do vote out the weakest link, they still lose. Strength doesn't always work, so I have no problem writing Cloud's name down. The tribe gets along rather well, and Cloud, even though he's a good guy and everything, I don't want to have the team be divided in the future, or else we're going to tribal again."

Bonnie rotated his head to face the vixen of the group. "What do you think, Krystal?"

"Well, if that's what most of the tribe is gonna do, then I'm down."

Luigi smiled in reaction with a bit of relief. "Thanks, guys... I'm gonna put Cloud's name down anyway because he's the only other target right now as far as I know, but if you guys can find a way to convince the rest of the tribe to vote him out that would be brilliant."

Greninja stared down. "I don't know if Knuckles or Foxy would be down for it, though... If we can't get them, then that means that we're gonna spend some time explaining to them on why we're voting the way we're voting tonight, even though we still want everybody to get along. We would just need to make them happy again as fast as possible."

Bonnie began to walk away. "I'll go talk to Foxy."

_"Alright, so now the plan is changing all of a sudden. Cloud's name has been talked about for a while, but now since we lost, Luigi is an immediate target due to him basically be the sacrificial lamb on this tribe to make the team stronger. I mean, there wasn't even much talk of who is the weakest out of everyone. The moment we get back to camp, Cloud was just like 'Luigi's the weakest of the group, he's gotta go.' ...I guess over time this is what the first couple votes of Survivor has come to." Bonnie chortled a bit. "But the plan has changed **again** and we're targeting Cloud now so we can keep a one big happy family together. We're all just employees doing our job to beat those emperors. But the problem is that we doubt everyone here is gonna be on board... and I don't know what Foxy might think of it. He did say that he wanted to work with me in this game, so now I need to see where he stands..."_

-/-

"Alright bro, first tribal..."

"I know..."

Bonnie ended up reuniting with Foxy near the same spot where Cloud was digging for an idol.

"So..." Foxy glanced from the side to Bonnie's face. "How are people voting tonight?"

"Well right now besides Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, and probably Krystal are set on sending Cloud home, but they're not completely keeping him in yet. But what I do is that Knuckles is obviously one hundred percent on Luigi over Cloud, and I won't be surprised if Rouge votes with him."

That was when Foxy Michaels simply stared, with his mouth halfway hung open. "...Are you serious?"

"...Yeah?"

"...People are actually going for Cloud right _now_?"

"It certainly appears that way..." Bonnie blinked. "You don't agree with that?"

"...I _really_ rather see Luigi get his torch snuffed." Foxy opinionated. "Not that I completely disagree with the Cloud idea, but... don't you think it's a _little _bit too early for that?"

"Greninja said that sometimes you just gotta take risks in the game." Bonnie defended. "I don't even blame him. Cloud for all we know could get worse and worse, and then in the end he's gonna be too chaotic for our own good. I won't be surprised if he's kept around on any swapped tribe for challenge strength, and then he'll be dangerous at the merge."

"...So you're set on voting for him, too?"

"I'm dead set on whatever the tribe thinks overall." Roberts shrugged. "I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers here..."

"..." Now it was Foxy's turn to blink, and then he placed a hand on his shoulder. "Okay, I get where you're coming from and everything, but could you please find a way to convince everyone to vote for Luigi over him? I just feel that now's not the right time to send Cloud packing. I don't want to lose any more challenges..."

"Well, you can have your opinion and everything and like I said, I do understand your argument there." Bonnie continued to nod. "But honestly, no matter who we vote, I think it's best for us to vote together to see where we are. Some of them are probably thinking that you're not that easy to convince so that you can vote for them."

That caused the red fox to raise an eyebrow, almost being frozen in place. "Oh, so you're saying they might not trust me?"

"Not saying that they don't trust you, it's just that they don't know if they could by you voting the way _they _would... But I figured that if we're gonna work together in the future, I'd pretty much_ like_ for you to vote with me tonight..."

_"I'm surprised that people are already wanting Cloud gone, and it seems that Bonnie is gonna vote however they vote whether they're actually gonna pull the trigger on him and Luigi. I'd very much prefer the vote to be for Luigi in order so we can continue to compete with the emperors on challenges... But no matter who it is, Bonnie is gonna vote with the tribe, and now it seems like I gotta be a part of whatever he says just to save my own butt out here. I was just thinking of convincing the tribe that Luigi should be the target tonight, but now it looks like I gotta keep my mouth shut..."_

With all bags packed, the Chatan tribe began to head out and leave for their first Tribal Council.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 6**

* * *

Foxy, Rouge, Cloud, Luigi, Knuckles, Bonnie, Greninja, Krystal, and Sheik all approached the stairs, walked up to the Tribal Council area one by one, and all stood awaiting for Master Hand's instructions.

"Behind each of you is a torch. Take one, dip it in, and get fire." Master Hand watched them follow the procedure. "This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council where in this game, fire represents your life. When your fire is gone, so are you."

The Chatan tribe all seated in a similar fashion as the emperors back on night three.

"Alright, so last time the emperors had to go to Tribal Council." The hand commenced the discussion. "Now it's the knights turn, minus Shovel Knight who is on Exile Island with Marth, one of the emperors. But let's focus on the theme of the season for you guys. The knights are used to toughing it out by either generally having good work ethic, getting the job done, or getting through any type of situation life throws at them. And so, we have nine people who even though are completely different from one another in some way, you all still have one thing in common. Now's the time to get to know some of you guys. _Bonnie_, why are you here?"

"Oh, why am _I_ here?" He grinned. "Well, I'm kind of a fan of the show here. I just wanted to try something that I wanted to for quite a while now. I play in a band back where I'm from all for the sake of entertaining kids at restaurants and everything. I've been performing for quite a while now. Normally for places like that they have something like animatronic robots of some sort, so me and a few of my friends back at home decided to do it ourselves. Not not only my name is being spread around everywhere, but people like me are starting to do the same thing. Back then we were just hoping to play somewhere and now I'm a household name in some places around the city."

That earned a couple of friendly laughs as well as a few grins from his fellow tribemates.

"Quite interesting." Master Hand reacted. "_Knuckles_, why are you here?"

"I'm just here to push myself to the limit." The echidna began to elaborate. "I've been through thick and thin back where I'm at. My job is simple. All I have to do is guard this gigantic emerald out on an island all by myself. Even if it does get boring at times for obvious reasons, I am not kidding when I say it's not as easy as it seems, where anything can happen that will not only put the emerald in danger, but pretty much the entire island at stake. But all I know is if I can sit down and guard the Master Emerald for years on end, I can be surrounded with nineteen strangers on a stranded island in Japan for thirty-nine days."

"So just so were clear," The long-time Survivor host spoke again. "the ten of you have been put into this competition so that you all can simply fight through it, even though all of you are different in your own way. Knuckles for example has to guard a special emerald in order to prevent chaos from happening, while on the other hand, Bonnie simply thought of a creative way to handle his career by simply... playing in front of kids in an audience just to represent entertainment at family restaurants. But like he said, he basically made up his own rules where usually they create robots for that sort of thing. Though the thing is, the ten are all knights because in comparison to what an actual knight is, you all are 'soldiers' that are recognized for your services. And that is a great quality to have."

Greninja nodded in agreement.

"With that being out of the way, let's start with the basics. Sheik, what is the whole tribe dynamic of Chatan?"

"Well, I think that as a whole, the tribe gets along really well. We all are able to cooperate with each other as we take care of the chores around camp, and we generally enjoy each other's company. When we all stepped foot on the beach, it was the usual greeting, we talked and interacted with each other on what we do for a living, we had some enjoyment on the beach we were on, and we seem to have an overall good, positive spirit."

"But the thing is, even though you guys can be as positive as you can be, now you all had to go Tribal Council after losing against Nago today." Master Hand reminded. "So for sure, you guys have to vote out _somebody_, whether any of you want to or not. Nobody's leaving Tribal Council until someone is voted out. So Krystal, how do you all make your decisions to vote somebody out?"

"Pretty much the typical criteria in the early stages of the game." The bounty hunter replied. "There was a little talk about the weakest links in the camp, and how well does a certain person get along with everybody here so that we can continue to keep that good positive vibe like you said."

"So you're saying there's a certain someone that might rub certain people the wrong way in the future?"

That resulted in Cloud turning his head to stare directly at Krystal.

"Well, as far as the tribe feels, it's not based on that alone. For example, just the other day nine of us woke up and realized that a certain someone was out looking for an idol."

Cloud Strife shook his head.

"Cloud?" Master Hand called.

"They're not wrong." He admitted. "I'm the culprit and they caught me red-handed. I figured that it was best for me to retrieve security as soon as possible. Not many members of this tribe were distancing themselves from the rest to search for it, so I took the advantage by being an early riser and attempt to find the idol before anyone else woke up. But I was too little, too late, and now I have to own up to it in order to be honest with the rest of my team."

"Alright, so you're not lying when you said that you searched for one."

"I was caught. They sent somebody out and they found me digging in the sand. I'm not gonna blame them, though. I would have done the same thing."

"Greninja, what do you make of Cloud searching for the idol, especially now that we know that Shovel Knight was sent to exile and now he could possibly be searching for one as we speak?"

"Um, well Cloud searching for the idol before anyone else woke up that morning was a great strategy, but it never really paid off for him because of what happened. He might have wanted a chance to get the idol before anyone else could have because he knew that somebody from this tribe was gonna get it." He expressed his thoughts. "As far as Shovel Knight is concerned, that may be true. Maybe he and Marth could be looking for it right now, since there were seasons past where the idol was found on Exile Island. However, we thought that there is also a possibility that the idol could actually be hidden at this camp and Shovel just found a clue on where it might be. Maybe, maybe not. You never know."

"So Cloud Strife, since you chose to look for the idol, are you afraid that might have lost a little bit of trust with the rest of your tribe?"

"That was my main concerned, but ever since then, not many have brought it up since then. So I think I'm slowing earning their trust back. Foxy was the one who told me that they needed me for challenge strength and that the other knights did not want to lose trust with me because I'm too caught up in searching for idols rather than being with the rest of the group."

"And just so we clear, you guys _did_ lose the challenge today." Master Hand recalled. "And you guys also pointed out that you all might vote based on whoever was the perceived 'weak link' of the tribe."

Luigi raised his hand.

"I think I am the perceived weak link, master."

That earned the attention of a few of his teammates.

"And why do you think that?"

"Well, I thought it was obvious when you have people like Cloud and Knuckles. Those two could help the tribe as far as physical strength goes. The tribe as a whole found me to not be a weak link, but I just compared myself to everybody else here, and if there was a contest in order to find out who was the absolute strongest of the Knights tribe, all I can say is that I definitely wouldn't come in first place."

"Rouge, would you agree that Luigi is probably number ten on the list of who is the most physically strong in challenges? You two were in fact the ones that won that shelter making kit back on the first day."

"My personal opinion on the matter is that even though we won that challenge, like Luigi said, we don't think that he's weak at all. It's just that if he was voted out, it is not for a negative reason at all, since I do like the guy. He should think of himself as a hero that helped his team win that challenge at the end of the day." The bat put her thoughts on the table. "When we were discussing on which obstacles we were to take on, he did not want to get across that beam over the water. And even though he still took that risk, the tribe probably assumed that it was gonna play a factor of how not only how physical Luigi was going to be in challenges, but also how he would _react_ to certain parts of the challenges, and that was simply one of those examples. They're predicting the future and I don't exactly blame them for planning ahead instead of thinking tribal by tribal."

"So Luigi, if it is you that is going out on day six of this season, how would you describe your experience in Survivor?"

"Well, the feeling would be bittersweet." Even though he show his grin, there was a hidden look of sadness. "If it is me tonight, I'm not going to be bitter about their decision because otherwise, I'd be a hypocrite if I was in their shoes voting somebody who isn't the strongest of the team. If it just to help the team out and if they win the next immunity challenge, that's good for them, even though I would be sad that if I was leaving this early. I wouldn't be surprised, but I still wished that I would've gotten farther and probably would have been willing to do the hardest obstacle on that ship with Rouge."

"Aww." Rouge rotated her head to face Luigi with the biggest smirk. "We still love you, Luigi."

And that resulted in a few laughs from the tribe, including Luigi himself.

"Well, however the Knights tribe is gonna vote tonight, I could say that it won't be the easiest as you guys said that you generally get along together well. But at the end of the day, _somebody_ has to leave the island. It is time to vote. Foxy, you're up."

And as soon as the red fox rose from his seat, the voting session officially began, Foxy Michaels quickly making his way to the voting booth, uncapping his pen to begin writing. Yet, it never stopped him from shaking his head with a quiet sigh.

Soon afterwards it was Greninja's turn, Krystal and Cloud following after him, the latter taking his type writing down 'LUIGI' in all caps.

"Sorry it had to come to this. Hopefully you will be able to hold your head up high at what you wanted to accomplish out here."

After Cloud was Knuckles, and then Luigi himself who wrote down his the name of who wrote his own name on the parchment.

"I don't know if I am going home tonight or not, but this is the only choice that I have..."

Once Rouge and Sheik voted, that meant Bonnie had to be last.

"No hard feelings. It didn't have to be this way, but right now I gotta do not only what's best for the tribe, but for me personally."

After Bonnie Roberts sat down, Master Hand knew it was time to do his part.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Luigi clapped his hands together and had his head down low as Cloud was staring off to nowhere in particular, probably due to him being in his thoughts at the time.

Master Hand came back with the urn.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so."

All eyes were on Cloud, in which he stared back in reaction, but then faced the Master Hand.

"Okay." He was ready. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final, person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

They all watched his retrieve the first vote that was to be read.

"First vote... Cloud."

That caused him to pop an eyebrow.

"Luigi. One vote Luigi, one vote Cloud."

"Luigi."

Luigi could not even blink as Rouge slowly cocked her head from her right to her left.

"Luigi_._"

Bonnie took a glance at Foxy sitting directly to his right, who remained focused on the master.

"Three votes Luigi, one vote Cloud."

Knuckles and Cloud both looked rather confident as Greninja faced from them to what was happening diagonally to his left.

"Cloud."

That without a doubt got a reaction as he leaned his head back slightly.

Luigi at that point was frozen in place.

"Cloud."

Rouge blinked as her eyebrow lowered. "...What?"

Sitting from the furthest end from the urn at that point began shifted his head to the rest of his tribemates with a dumbfounded expression. Knuckles, having to be sitting in the middle of the bottom row with Rouge ended up glancing in all directions with a very strange look.

"We're tied. Three votes Cloud, three votes Luigi."

Luigi remained watching.

"Cloud. Four votes Cloud, three votes Luigi."

Cloud at that moment had his mouth halfway opened, not even taking a glance at nobody other Master Hand reading his votes as Greninja watched. Luigi remained staring at what was happening the entire time, not even blinking.

Foxy had a fist beneath his chin.

"Second person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Cloud. That's five, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

Rouge had her hands over her mouth as Knuckles could have believed what just occurred. Luigi heaved a sigh of relief as Cloud Strife slowly rose from his spot to retrieve his torch behind, shaking his head all the while.

"I do not know if it was the correct decision you all chose to make, but time will tell..."

Bonnie kept eyeing Strife who was now placing his torch down in the small hole beneath him.

"Cloud, the tribe has spoken."

Briefly watching his torch being snuffed, he already began heading toward the stairs to make his way down.

Master Hand faced the rest of Chatan for one last time.

"Well, first Tribal Council, first blindside. You guys have said the criteria for tonight's tribal was based on who was the weakest of the ten of you only for you all to vote out seemingly the exact opposite of who was the weakest. Interesting strategy. Let's see how well it would play out in the future. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

"Unbelievable..." Knuckles muttered as he stood with the rest of Chatan as they all grabbed their torches and left.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Luigi** **\- Cloud**

**Sheik** **\- Cloud**

**Greninja** **\- Cloud**

**Krystal** **\- Cloud**

**Knuckles**** \- Luigi**

**Rouge**** \- Luigi**

**Cloud**** \- Luigi**

**Bonnie** **\- Cloud**

**Foxy**** \- Cloud**

_**19th Place:**_** Cloud**

* * *

_"I got blindsided. Never saw it coming. Guess I shot myself in the foot in the beginning, but I never expected them to take out possibly the strongest member of the group over the weakest... at our **first** Tribal Council. I have no hard feelings for their decision making, but time will tell if they do in fact win the next immunity challenge somehow."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Ghirahim, Marth, Roy, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy / Luigi, Shiek, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Rouge, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

* * *

**Well, I guess we have our first blindside of the season, and it actually ended up being Chatan who blindsided someone first instead of the emperors. The knights seemed that they were really willing to take a gamble on them voting out their strongest player. But in their defense, he was basically the one person that was not trusted after not looking going after the idol, but separating himself from the rest of the team half the time. I don't even blame them for targeting Cloud because if I was out there it definitely would have had me thinking at least. But as far as who was mainly responsible for Chatan's decision, I'd say Greninja was the first one who threw his name out there after he was one of the first who grew tired of Cloud's antics.**

**So let's compare Chatan's first boot to Nago's first boot. The emperors chose to vote out their weakest member (though they're not the happiest tribe in the world with Shadow and Ghirahim in the way) while the knights chose to vote out the one who was the most untrustworthy (even though he was the most physical person of the team). Basically, tribe strength vs tribe harmony. Two completely different strategies here for each of the tribe's first boots. So I guess it depends on what happens to both of them in the future.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Did Chatan make a good decision tonight?**

**2\. Based on the fact that both tribes went to Tribal Council now, what would be the future of the both of them?**

**3\. Which tribe are you rooting for at this point?**

**4\. Since Shovel Knight and Marth both found the clue to their own hidden immunity idol, would they both be able to find one or would at least one of them fail to decipher it?**

**Watch the YouTube intro if you haven't already (the link is now in my profile), vote for your top five favorite players of the season and I will see you all next time? (Also, if you want to get into the actual Survivor series, shoot me a PM. Keep in mind the episodes are on the CBS website, it's a paid subscription service.)**


	8. Chapter 8: Day 7

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 8 - Day 7

**Alright, welcome back for more "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" And last time, the Knights tribe made a big move by voting out their strongest competitor (Cloud) over their weakest competitor (Luigi) just for the sake of tribe harmony and unification. Despite that, Knuckles and Rouge were kept out of the loop. Nevertheless, they felt that Luigi was easier to deal with long-term game.**

**Since this chapter comes right after vote off, but not the time for another immunity challenge to occur, we simply progress the story from here, especially with the emperors since we haven't seen them that much all week other than the challenge. But I felt that nothing important or interesting was happening at the time so I skipped them for now. But fortunately Nago is certainly going to get more screen time.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Knights**

**Night 6**

* * *

One by one, the Chatan tribe leaned their torches against a tree that was close to their shelter.

_"So the six of us who voted for Cloud instead of Luigi all had to do some major damage control here." Sheik recalled the results of the 6-3 vote that just occurred._

"I just..." Knuckles had his arms folded as his shook his head out of frustration. "I just don't understand on why you chose to kick not only someone that is not one of the strongest, but then our biggest competitor? Really?"

Rouge just stood around with a wrist against her hip as Knuckles and everyone else that was responsible do all the talking.

"Well, we honestly thought that you all were never going to write Cloud." Bonnie began to explain. "Shovel Knight would not have had any problems booting Cloud out as well so we even had to take his thoughts into consideration. We just did what was best for us as a tribe and you both even know that Cloud was basically the one bad apple."

"But don't think that it was to disrespect you guys or anything." Krystal shook her head just to reassure the people who were left out of the vote. "Our goal is to keep the tribe as unified as possible."

"I just..." Knuckles then waved his hands out as his head continue to shake lazily dropping his arms back down. "I'm just sort of at a loss for words right now."

"We do need your strength, though." Greninja reminded. "We all know how strong Cloud was at challenges, but trust me. This will only bring us closer together. Just because Cloud was our strongest doesn't mean that we all can't pull our weight around here. We all work hard around camp and generally this is a strong team. I'm a strong player, you're a strong player, Bonnie's a strong player, sometimes it's not all about strength when it comes to a tribe."

_"I honestly wasn't trying to play an individual game here." said Greninja. "Honestly I cared more about the tribe rather than just myself. This is a team game right now. Eighteen is quite a large number and I don't think it's best for me to think too much of myself this early. Cloud played too hard, too early and even Knuckles and Rouge felt that he was the one thing that stopped us from complete unification, and we felt that it could have led to even more problems. We had no other choice but to keep Knuckles and Rouge out of the loop, but we still want them to be a part of us so we can continue to work together as a group of nine, especially since we're even with the emperors now."_

"I honestly still like the both of you." Bonnie spoke again. "Hopefully we can just move on. Tomorrow's another day, Shovel Knight will come back, and we just move forward stronger than ever."

_"I was obviously upset that I was not only out of the loop of the vote, but also for the fact that they went for Cloud of all people." Knuckles expressed his feelings. "Him over Luigi? Really? I don't recall Luigi being even stronger than Cloud, so I was very shocked at what happened. Guess for this tribe no one is safe no matter how strong you are. Right now they're saying that we're still together as one, but because I was left out of that vote, I feel like that I'm on the bottom... So, I dunno what's next..."_

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 7**

* * *

About mid-morning after the second Tribal Council, the Emperors tribe was sitting around the campfire as a group as everyone eyed Zelda stirring the pot around gently as the rice cooked.

_"Initially around the campfire not many of us had anything interesting to say, so we decided to discuss who was voted off from the Knights tribe last night as well as Marth being on exile with Shovel Knight." Freddy Fazbear informed._

"Who do you guys think got the boot?" Roy was the one that popped the question, his head leaning against his right first. "You think they used the same strategy as us when we had to go to tribal?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they did." Mega Man gave his answered first. "Either that or they voted out someone that was close to the perceived weakest link of the tribe. Maybe Rouge or something..."

"Hmph..." Shadow folded his arms. "I was just thinking of Rouge yesterday, and I got a good look at her during the challenge while the puzzle makers were solving the phrase. Something about her that I can't exactly put my finger on..."

"I think Knuckles could be an aggressive guy." Shulk theorized. "But I won't be surprised if he's basically a hothead... I can't help but think about Marth being on exile with Shovel, though..."

"I would not exactly be surprised if the two formed a friendly connection of some sort." Ghirahim predicted. "The two probably have a similar sense of vocabulary..."

Mega Man blinked. "...Maybe you would fall into that group perhaps...?"

Ghirahim simply gave a slight shrug without even eyeing the blue bomber.

"Ooh!" Pac-Man clapped his hands together rapidly. "Maybe Marth could find the hidden immunity idol so that he can use it against the knights in order for us to have more numbers at the merge!"

"He does seem like a loyal guy." Shulk did not complete rule out that possibility. "However, like anyone, he could very much keep it for himself. Who knows? The idol might not even be up there. I personally think that it'd be kinda predictable that he'd find it. And besides, they probably think that everybody else that stayed on their beaches would want to find the idol, too."

_"Because of the fact that Marth was sent to Exile Island, we thought that there could be a chance of him finding a hidden immunity idol. However, I wouldn't be so shocked if the idol was actually hidden back at this camp mainly for two reasons. The first reason would be that it'd be kinda obvious that a person that has been sent to exile might have it. And for the other reason? Well, these days there's at least one idol per tribe. And Shovel Knight is on Exile Island as well. They probably got clues, but the idol could very well be hidden right here at this camp." The heir to the Monado gave a sigh. "And I really like Marth,... but I came here to be the Sole Survivor just like everybody else. I want to find that idol before he does. Maybe I could pull off a Brussell Hants by finding one without a clue..."_

Thus, he was seen beginning his search around the trees where no one else was around, with the exception of Shadow the Hedgehog wandering near. Hearing his footsteps, he had to quickly put his search onto a hold as he pretended to gather more firewood.

By the time the anthropomorphic animal came by, the taller castaway began to speak. "Something tells me that it's gonna rain again. Zelda was right. We made a good move by eating in the morning because the rain is gonna put out the fire."

"I couldn't agree more." Shadow thought he was not wrong. "I believe Ghirahim wanted to eat later in the day, since to him dinner is the most important meal of the day, but if it rained right now, everyone would be grumpy and complain about how starving they would be and none of us would have ate anything beside those coconuts until tomorrow. Speaking of which, did you bring the machete over here?"

"No..." He shook his head. "I didn't think I would need it right now..."

"Ugh... _great_." Shadow stared at the ground with arms folded. "Now I would have to walk all the way back to camp..."

"Sorry..."

"You're fine." The smaller castaway excused him. "But I wanted to talk to you about something, since Ghirahim has already been brought up in this conversation."

That was when Shulk stopped what he was doing and stared directly into Shadow's eyes. "...Oh, really?"

"I'm serious." Shadow glanced around. "First of all, where's Freddy?"

"I'm pretty sure he's still at camp."

"..." Shadow facepalmed and cursed under his breath, turning around to make his way back. "I'll be back. Don't go anywhere."

"..."

And Shadow was out of sight, Shulk now taking advantage of the situation by resuming his search for the hidden immunity idol.

_"After what Mega Man told me a couple days ago, now I know for sure that the alliance that Ghirahim brought up that excluded us two plus Shulk and Freddy was never true because it never existed. And because of it, now I realize that I have more options than I thought I had. At this point, I'm starting to doubt that there's even a majority alliance at all. So as of now, my plan is to learn how Shulk and Freddy would feel like after I tell them the truth."_

As ordered, Shulk remained in place in spite of sneakily looking for the idol as Shadow was now back the machete plus Freddy.

"Alright, I don't know exactly how the two of you would react to this, but..." The black hedgehog paused for a bit. "Ghirahim is wrong. There is no Pair Up Alliance."

"Oh..." Freddy cocked his head in another direction.

"So it wasn't true after all?"

"It never was." Shadow shook his head. "Ghirahim just got too paranoid and jumped to conclusions. I was already sort of popping up questions when the group was not as hesitant to not keep Peach around, so that had me thinking."

"..." Freddy was slightly confused. "Wait, that's it? They just had an easier time getting rid of Peach?"

"Well, you in particular had been getting along with Zelda rather well for the last couple days. You two have talked more than I seen Zelda interact with some others from the supposed alliance." Shadow knew even more, but he chose not to say for personal reasons.

"...Oh, well that's a valid point." Freddy agreed. "...So,... since we're apparently not exactly on the bottom of this tribe, where do we go from here?"

"Hmm..." Shadow stared at the ground again. "I haven't really thought of much, but as far as what we're gonna do with Ghirahim, I don't know if he's the best person to work with at this point."

"Whew..." A relieved Shulk placed a hand on his head. "Good thing I never told anyone about Ghirahim assuming that the alliance indeed existed."

"Me neither." said Freddy.

"I was actually kinda iffy on him anyway. But why don't you think that's the best idea for the three of us?"

"He's too paranoid for his own good." Shadow opinionated. "If he can draw that many conclusions on day three, then it could be a major problem, especially if he progresses further in the competition. If he's still close with us, that eventually that would hurt all three of our games and we'll get nowhere to the point where the rest of the people here actually decide to align with one another."

_"Aligning with Ghirahim at this point for not only me personally but to Freddy and Shulk, would actually be a liability for all of us. Judging by his outspoken personality, he would eventually spill to the tribe about his assumption of the alliance that never existed, which will actually hurt my game because it will raise some question marks about where I stand with the rest of the emperors, and then people would start to question Shulk and Freddy, who I'm still looking at on whether or not I should work with them."_

_"From this point on, assuming that Ghirahim will continue on with his behavior, hopefully he will continue to throw his own self under the bus and we stay out of the way so that if we have to go to tribal again, he would be the number one target. Sticking by his side would kill my chances of making it far out here. I'm not playing for anyone else other than myself out here, especially when this is a game for a million dollars."_

"Our best interest from here on out," Shadow continued. "is to try to distance ourselves from Ghirahim around the others, yet if he approaches us either individually or as a group, just go with it and pretend that we're still with him. However, convince him that confronting anyone about the Pair Up Alliance wouldn't be the best idea in the world. Got it?"

"Works for me." Freddy blinked finding no problems with it.

"Alright, then." Shulk bobbed his head up and down.

Shadow the Hedgehog then took a glance at his surroundings.

"...?"

"...We should probably separate then." He forced the tool he had into Shulk's hand, turning on his heel to walk away. "Take the machete..."

-/-

"Ooh, look! A boat!"

Pac-Man pointed to a small boat in the distant quickly approaching the Nago beach.

Ghirahim was looking to. "That's probably Marth..."

"Marth!?" Pac-Man widened his eyes and then immediately ran back to the shelter to tell everyone. "Hey everybody, Marth is back!"

Nearly a couple minutes later, Marth was happily greeted from most of his tribemates by either giving handshakes or friendly hugs. Soon afterwards, all nine Nago members were sitting around the fire.

"Starved to death?" Roy asked jokingly.

"Well I am not dead at this moment, so that is a negative." Marth grinned in reaction. "Though it was sort of difficult being part of not only a tribe of two, but with someone from the opposition only because of the fact that he is not one of those individuals I started out with. However, Shovel Knight is a good guy and I am not afraid of recommending him to all of you."

_"Exile Island overall was not the best, yet interesting experience. It never rained when I was there and me and Shovel interacted quite a bit, especially after discussing where the hidden immunity idol might be at our camps as we put our heads together. However, I was quite careful and made sure I chose my words precisely in order to avoid leaking any sort of information the knights might have used against us down the road. I am not saying that I have no intentions on interacting with any of the knights if I were to get the chance, but for this time, it is best for me to stay loyal to my team."_

Later on, he ended up alone with Roy, Pac-Man, and Zelda. Yet since the latter two were doing other tasks at the camp, it left Marth and Roy to converse a little.

"So, what sword do you use for combat?" asked Roy.

"Falchion, or sometimes referred to as the 'Blade of Light.'" Marth enlightened the boy. "The sword has been passed down through generations and I took eventually took my turn by using it to defend myself against tough opponents when I had to fight. I always made sure I took good care of it. It is in good hands back at home since I am out here for the next month."

_"Roy is a bright boy if I do say so myself. Not only do I inspire him, but he inspires me as well in a way. I never imagined being as young as he is and him already stepping up to be the person that he was fighting in battle and he knows it. Thus, he looks up to me as if I'm his role model. So I am more than eager to answer any question he might have in mind so that he could use my answers to his advantage just in case he has to participate in a war when he returns. And if he even needs my assistance, I am more than happy to fight along by his side."_

"Exactly how serious was the war between the humans and the dragons?"

"Oh, the situation was _very _severe." Marth answered another one of Roy's questions. "I'd... rather not spoil all the details at this moment, since now is not exactly the right time to be depressed of the significant events that occurred and the casualties behind it. But what I can say that it is definitely something that will always be remembered as time goes on. What about you?"

"Uh, basically a similar situation to yours. Perhaps we would have our time to talk more once this is over." Roy took a moment to eye Pac-Man and Zelda who seemed to be busy focused in their own conversation at that point, so he glanced back to Marth with his voice slightly decreasing in volume. "You know... I was just thinking..."

"Of what?" Marth finally sat down in the shelter as Roy continued to stand.

"...Perhaps we could form some sort of friendship, especially now since we are talking like this." Roy began chortling a little slightly. "You probably do not realize how much I could look up to you since we... do have quite a bit in common."

This caused Marth to grin wider. "Alright, then. I see ourselves being great friends to one another as well. And trust me. I was in your shoes when I first started out as a swordsman."

_"I really like Marth." Roy stated. "I am not trying to put him on a high pedestal or anything, but I really do look up to him. He's a good role model for me personally since we have very similar backgrounds to the point where we live rather close to one another. He's a swordsman, I'm a swordsman, neither of us have the slightest idea of the whole concept of 'technology', and we were both leaders when we both had to fight. The main difference is that he is obviously older than I am. Sort of like an elder brother in a way. I think we would get along well both in the game and outside the game."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 7**

* * *

"Welcome back, Shovel Knight!"

"Dude, you gotta tell us what happened on Exile Island."

"Yeah, what was Marth like?"

"Did he say anything about his tribe?"

Like Marth, Shovel Knight was bombarded with questions the moment he stepped back on the Chatan tribe. "It's a pleasure to return here to you all. I shall answer all of your questions shortly. ...Oh, where are Cloud and Sheik?"

"Oh, Sheik should be here in a little." Krystal answered. "But, Cloud? ...He's not here anymore."

Upon hearing that made Shovel Knight immediately stood frozen. "...Wait a minute... Are you saying?"

"Yep." Foxy nodded with arms folded. "We voted him out..."

"Yeah, it was either him or Luigi." Greninja added. "We figured that Cloud would have been much more dangerous to keep around. Luigi would be more loyal to us if we have the numbers at some point in the future of this game. You probably would have voted for Cloud, anyway."

"...Well I can't say that I wouldn't have." Shovel Knight laughed with honesty. "But it was quite a shocker, I suppose. Guess the game moves on from here."

Luigi of course was grinning more than ever.

-/-

"And then it was three votes for me and one vote for Cloud. The second vote for him made him get more suspicious, but when Master Hand tied it up, Knuckles and Rouge were dumbfounded. They were kept out of the loop because the group thought that they would have rejected the idea, so we voted for Cloud without them and I won't be surprised if those two are at the bottom now."

_"I was expecting Cloud to be gone a bit later down the line because even I was aware of his perception among the other members." said the shovel wielder. "I simply never predicted that he would be gone so soon. However, apparently he was up against Luigi last night. And based on my previous conversation of him as well as me wanting to keep him around, as long as he stays here on the island, then I am elated that he proved to be victorious at tribal."_

Luigi spoke as he and Shovel Knight continued to walk. "Everyone tried their hardest to make sure we're still on the same page. They didn't want the team to be divided even though Knuckles and Rouge voted differently. But I guess they all assume that over time we will all move forward and bury the hatchet you know? They seem to still have a strong feeling that we could still win challenges."

"I guess you all just need some time to recover from it, I suppose." The knight guessed. "Likely it's gonna rain today based on how the clouds are reacting... Uh, 'no pun intended' as they say?"

Luigi giggled. "Yeah, that's it."

"Oh, great." He felt he was 'getting with the program' with modern times. "Since it might rain today, maybe it'd be best for the nine of us that are remaining to simply sit around in the shelter and talk so that we can all bond as a unit. I'll ask if anyone would like to volunteer if they'd like to go first this time."

"Good plan. Maybe it would give me more time to prove that I'm almost just as physically capable of helping us win challenges just as some of you are." Luigi nodded in agreement with the possible plan. "So since we're alone, where do we go from here?"

"For us two?" With him watching Luigi nod again, he answered. "Well if Cloud could get eliminated this early in the Survivor contest, then my educated guess would be that literally every last person is vulnerable. We have to be careful that neither of us are going anywhere anytime soon."

_"Even though I got saved last night, especially with Rouge and Knuckles being out of the loop at the last vote, I bet a million gold coins that my name is at least being tossed around still. I feel that the more your name is written down, the more you are gonna be talked about in the camp. So now I wonder how do I keep the target away from myself? Clearly I need Shovel Knight and Shovel Knight needs me. Greninja and Sheik are two people that I can continue to talk to, and Bonnie is a nice guy. Hopefully I'm on good terms with Foxy. But I think what's best for me is that I need to remind them that Knuckles and Rouge were left out of the blindside and that there's not that big of a chance that we could use them for future votes against the emperors just because of them being left out of the loop and possibly wanting to get revenge. They do want to keep the team together after all. So maybe I can remind them of what's most important for the tribe."_

-/-

_"I'm still a little annoyed that I had to take part in voting Cloud out last night. For me personally I had no problems writing down Luigi, but I had no choice based on the circumstances that I had to face. I only voted for Cloud because Bonnie was gonna vote for him and I wanted to let him know that he could trust me so that the two of us can work together. It was a good thing too, now that I think about it." Foxy's neutral expression turned into a smirk. "Apparently according to Bonnie the tribe was hesitant if I was on board or not, and if Bonnie never told them that he was gonna talk to me about it, we would have went to tribal where I would have ended up on the wrong side of the vote, and then I would have been on the bottom. So, gotta give credit where credit is due. Bonnie basically saved my life and now I gotta pretend that voting out Cloud was the perfect choice to make."_

He managed to find Knuckles up high in a tree above the treemail using the machete to bring down a few coconuts for the team. "'Sup, Knuckles? What'cha doin'?"

"Making sure we have as much food as we can before the rain hit. I dunno how bad it's gonna be this time but better safe than sorry." He explained, his job on that tree in particular now being complete. "Let me get back down..."

_"However, since there were two people left out of the loop, perhaps I could use that to my advantage to make some new connections with people, especially with Knuckles. We generally get along well, so maybe if he is still here than we can rely on each other for something. Perhaps this could be me doing my share of making sure Chatan is as united as possible as people want it to be to make sure Knuckles and Rouge don't hold any resentment by the vote not being in their favor."_

As Knuckles was finally back on the ground, Foxy used the opportunity to converse with him while he could.

"Okay, just so you know, you're not completely at the bottom as you might think. The tribe still likes you, just so you know."

"Well,..." He folded his arms and gave Foxy a neutral stare. "you sure about that? I mean, 'cause I'm busting my tail right now getting coconuts and such for everyone, so if they were gonna vote for him, then somebody should have told me something."

"I guess they felt that you would have tried to convince them to vote for Luigi if you caught word of it." Foxy assumed. "Maybe they didn't wanna risk ticking you off. I dunno... Bottom line is if you think you're completely left out of the loop for future plans for this tribe right here, then don't. I'll be open if you wanna know what's going on if you want..."

"..." He blinked. "You really mean that?"

He nodded in assurance. "We're both on the same level as far as the challenges go, and I think we're at a point to where we naturally respect each other in the game, and you need at least someone to work with if you wanna stay here, so don't be afraid to ask me anything."

"Ugh..." He heaved a heavy sigh of relief, taking a few of the coconuts before starting to head off. "Thanks, man. That really means a lot to me. Help me carry these back..."

_"At least someone knows that I'm important out here." Knuckles said. "I really appreciate Foxy taking the time in having a one on one conversation with me about the vote after what happened. That's how I know that he's not faking it when he says that he's willing to work with me if I'm still here by next week. But if I am, perhaps we can get some sort of alliance goin'."_

-/-

"So, why was _I _not part of the plan?"

Meanwhile near the shelter, Rouge was having a one on one talk with Krystal not long after Knuckles had his own talk with Foxy. But neither of them noticed either of the other two anthropomorphic animals returning to camp with coconuts in their hands. Though Foxy never thought too much of it other than a quick head turn to acknowledge their existence, Knuckles remained focused on the pair after they placed the coconuts down, Foxy leaving the area to do something else.

"Well, what I have to say to that is it wasn't my decision to not inform you of the plan even if you were actually okay with voting for Cloud."

"I was, or at least I would have been eventually during that day." Rouge nodded her head. "I would have took the opportunity to strengthen the relationship between Luigi and I even more since we were the only ones from this team that competed together in that challenge. I just don't understand on why didn't the tribe trust me to vote with them. Knuckles I can understand... unless people thought that we were getting a little too close to one another."

"Well..." Krystal looked away.

"So _that's_ why." Rouge now had her answer. "They thought that just because we had that little scene in the water as well as other things that happened between us two in front of everyone meant that we were a power couple of some sort."

"I _can _tell you that they at least thought that you were voting his way." Krystal smirked. "They didn't really want anyone to blow up their plan. By the time Bonnie came around to tell us that Foxy had no issue on voting Strife out of the game, we talked briefly about you two, but at that point it was getting close for Tribal Council time and we already had the numbers, anyway. So I guess no one bothered to fill either of you in."

Rouge sighed and started to smirk as well. "Oh well, then. There's always next time, I suppose. Perhaps Knuckles is one of those 'brawn over brain' people, anyway. Maybe it was best for you all to keep me out of the loop in order to send me a wake up call."

Knuckles widened his eyes popping an invisible eyebrow.

Krystal began laughing a bit. "You're quite funny. I will give you that. Who knows? Maybe since the tribe wants to keep their positive spirit in check, you'd be perfect for a little entertainment."

"Psh." Rouge waved her hand off in front of her. "The strong guys are usually quite attractive, so I just had to play with Knuckles a little. He's still a good boy. Oh, did you know that one time I called him 'Knuckie?'"

_"'Brawn over brains?' 'Send her a wake up call?'" Knuckles repeated. "You mean to tell me that all this time Rouge was **testing** me just to see how would I react?"_

Knuckles ended up heading back where he came from as Krystal started to laugh a little louder.

_"What in the name of chaos does she think I look like? No, this is not acceptable. I can't believe that Rouge would just try to 'flirt' one minute then talk behind my back the next. One thing that I can't stand is being underestimated even though I have nothing to prove to anyone, and Rouge just played me like I'm some sort of instrument. That's it." He held his hand out for a quick moment. "Me and Rouge? We're done. It's over. She might think I'm just one of those guys that she can just experiment with that, but **trust** me. I'm **much **smarter than I look."_

* * *

**Uh-oh. Looks like Knuckles is ticked off for the day. First he was left out of the vote now he caught Rouge talking about him with Krystal. Perhaps they both should have done their two second look around to make sure no one was near lol. And also, looks like Shadow is basically done with Ghirahim...**

**Questions:**

**1\. Since Ghirahim isn't a reliable ally for Shadow anymore and is willing to let him dig his own grave, would people take their minds off of Shadow for a bit, or would he still be taken into consideration if the emperors have to go to tribal again?**

**2\. After what happened just before the chapter ended, how would Knuckles follow up to his reaction at Rouge?**

**Wish I would have had more questions but I couldn't think of anything else, so vote for your top five people this season and I will see you all next time for our next immunity challenge!**


	9. Chapter 9: Day 8 & Day 9 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 9 - Day 8 & Day 9 Part 1

**Hello, everyone! I'm back! Week 5 here and it's time to get to the third immunity challenge that will take place in this chapter, and the third elimination will occur on Saturday. Right now we are dead even in numbers on both the Nago and Chatan tribes so there are basically no top dogs yet, but anything can still change.**

**Yes, there will be a tribe swap occurring soon, but it's not gonna be now. Last season in Kodai Island a tribe swap happened at 18/20, and since I have to stick with this theme, there will be no tribe swap just yet. I'm not gonna break the theme after just two eliminations. _But_, there will still be a tribe swap in the near future before the merge because at this point, tribe swaps are a staple in Survivor, unless we want seasons like Redemption Island and South Pacific (which because of the lack of tribe swaps occurring in those seasons, I believe it's part of the reason why they are regarded as two of the worst seasons ever). In case you don't know where I'm going with this and want to learn more, PM and I will fill you in (though I warn you because I might spill _major_ spoilers unless you don't mind.)**

**Anyway, we're gonna take a quick look at both tribes today and then we'll move onto the immunity challenge. And just so you know, it's gonna be a water challenge and I _love _water challenges.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 8**

* * *

"It's time to use the fishing gear!"

_"Pac-Man,... you know he's..." Mega Man had a hand on his head as he laughed a little. "I mean, he's a good guy and all. Even though some people might say that he's... 'over joyful', I don't think like that at all. I think he's just a genuinely nice guy to be around, which is in fact a good quality to have."_

The sun was shining on day eight, and the Nago tribe finally decided to put the fishing gear that they earned from the last immunity challenge to good use. Up until that point, not one of the emperors consumed any sort of meat whatsoever for the first week. Thus, their single victory thus far that season was definitely worth it for the emperors.

"I can just imagine the amount of fish down there..."

Pac-Man in particular could not have waited to try it out. The fact that he had the opportunity to do something he never done before in his life had his blood pumping, even though at the moment, Shulk was the one that was using the scuba diver with the spear in hand, Pac-Man volunteered to give it a try once he decided that he had his time with it.

"...Hey, Ghirahim!?"

Ghirahim took a glance over at Pac-Man as he was attempting to use the fishing gear 'the old fashioned way', which was the simple fish hook, bait, line, etc.

"...Can you make sure Shulk is okay down there!?" The yellow emperor called out as he began to dash back to the camp. "I'm gonna try out your fishing gear while we wait for him to come back."

Roy shook his head with a grin watching his teammate.

_"He was the main one that wanted to use the fishing gear today since we know it's not raining at the moment, but Shulk..." He began to laugh again. "He kinda didn't want to break his spirit since he knew that Pac-Man admitted he had no experience when it came to fishing, but in the end he and Pac-Man made a deal that after he went out he would then teach Pac-Man how to do it. ...Like,... it seems that he's just one of those people that always look on the bright side of things no matter what. And you know what? I actually don't mind a person like Pac-Man. As long as his spirit doesn't break out here, maybe some of the people here will have a happier time stranded out here in the wilderness in Okinawa as we cut each other's throats for the million."_

Shadow the Hedgehog managed to hear him from the shelter as he was standing by the fire. "I don't think he really... _knows_ if you know what I mean. He's kinda like a kid..."

"Well, I am barely _not_ a kid of some sort." Roy commented from the bed of bamboo he was sitting on. "But most likely he came here just to have a good time and all. He has a good heart."

"I just think that he's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed." Shadow opinionated. "But I see what you mean..."

_"I said that I was gonna have the time of my life out here back on day one." Pac-Man brought up. "And so far I have no plans on backtracking my statement at all. I'm really having fun out here. So far I got to do everything. I interacted with every single member of my tribe, I'm in an alliance with Mega Man, and even though we've lost an immunity challenge, we **won **the immunity challenge last time, and now we have our reward: the fishing gear! I'm having a really great time out here and I can't ask for anything better! No matter how bad things might get, it seems that there's always something good that comes out of it. So, I have to say that I'm glad I made the decision to apply for the show."_

Zelda was watching from afar, though smiling about Pac-Man being involved in the water, the moment she heard Ghirahim name suddenly got her to think.

_"Right now I am wondering that since it is highly likely that that we are all going to participate in a immunity challenge tomorrow, if it is not in our favor, how do people plan on voting if we are required to attend tribal. Previously, the tribe made the decision to target one of the weaker players in their eyes. So I am worried that they will apply the same strategy yet again. And so the question is, how do I shift the target off myself?"_

Ghirahim was now watching Pac-Man placing the bait on the fish hook.

_"Ghirahim is obviously completely against someone such as myself on the island, though I am not willing to go down without a battle. I feel as if it comes down to it, I would not be surprised if it ends up being me pitted against Ghirahim at tribal. He is already rubbing people away by his character, and I feel that if I can remind everyone of that trait, they would consider on keeping me her. Same applies for Shadow as well just in case I need to fight harder."_

She was now having a conversation with Roy and Shulk once the latter was done with the scuba gear.

"So you two, what do the both of you say our next plan is if we lose tomorrow?"

Shulk was now searching through his bag so that he can find his shirt. "Well, _hopefully_ we don't lose another challenge because I'd like to have a winning streak going. Once we figure out who the knights sent home we could come up with a game plan depending on what the challenge is."

"Well, we have to vote off somebody, and even I can say that considering that it seems that the priority as of now is to simply keep the team strong." Zelda recalled. "But who would you rather see their torch snuffed personally?"

"Honestly," Roy spoke. "I'm pretty sure I'd be happier to see you stay. I know you deserve to stay in the game, Zel. Not saying that people like Shadow or Ghirahim don't deserve it, but both of them are clearly the bad apples around camp."

"I can see." Zelda nodded. "And you know, if all of you are not thinking of it already, Shadow and Ghirahim are basically simply two more individuals to consider on who should get the boot if we lose tomorrow. Two more targets could possibly mean just enough tribals before a swap occurs. If we can manage to eliminate the both of them, we would not have to worry about either of them later on in the game if we all manage to come back together at the merge."

"Hmm..." Roy thought out loud as his eyes remained on Zelda. "You're actually not wrong on that, Zelda. Even if we do lose, it basically will not matter as much because Shadow and Ghirahim are already options to consider. Overthinking it would not be the best of ideas. Besides, I can guarantee that the tribe finds you to be trustworthy. Who would you rather see off the island first?"

"The first choice I feel the tribe should target is Shadow." She told him. "As I just stated, he is one of the two to consider for the vote. However, I actually _do _want to continue to win the challenges. Since Ghirahim is stronger, Shadow is a much safer option. All we have to do is make sure he does not have the idol."

"I'd very much prefer Ghirahim to go because I can help pull all the weight in challenges." Shulk spoke up. "But your idea Zelda, it's certainly one to think about."

_"Though the more that I think of it, the more it makes sense to me that my best interest is to actually tolerate Ghirahim for a little while. I need to convince the rest of Nago that Shadow should be the first priority only because he is weaker than Ghirahim. I need to have just as many targets as possible in order to keep me safe so that I can continue to attempt to build trust with everyone else. With that being said, right now the number priority is Shadow."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 8**

* * *

_"Right now it's day eight, and even though what happened **happened**," said Krystal. "We're all glad that not only none of us were the first to be voted out of the game, but we've all past our first Tribal Council. I don't think we have that much to do today, so we all thought that it was best to relax a little bit just to calm our nerves down from all the strategy that's going on. I mean, we're only going to be in Japan for thirty-one more days."_

Luigi Mario was sitting on a rock near the water while most of the other members of Chatan were at to the shelter. Though Luigi just wanted some time on the rock to ponder to himself of the future of what was going to occur within the tribe, as well as him individually.

Luckily, there came Bonnie.

"...You doing okay, bud?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm okay." He said, although to the rabbit he appeared to be a little off. "Just being lost in my own thoughts."

"Shovel Knight saw you out here, but he sent me to talk to you since he volunteered to retrieve water for everyone." Bonnie explained. "You seemed kinda worried..."

"I am worried, but not as much as I was back on like, before the last immunity challenge."

_"I lucked out of the last Tribal Council after almost everyone decided to target Cloud over me." Luigi recalled. "Although I am thankful for that, it doesn't mean that my name is not going to be on the chopping block anymore. For all I know, worst case scenario could be that the Cloud blindside could very well backfire in our faces, and then we'll be back at square one where my name would be up for consideration once again, completely forgetting about Knuckles and Rouge even though those two were the ones left out of the vote."_

"I mean it's just that I do know you guys took a huge risk that night by booting him out, I just hope that it doesn't bite us all in the butt. You know what I mean?" He was finally facing Bonnie. "_Hopefully_ we can win so that all nine of us can be relieved that we're sending our opponents off to vote out one of their own again. Otherwise, I'd be targeted yet again and I wouldn't be surprised if the team decides to vote me out..."

He then sighed. "Yeah, I know I'm probably being dramatic about it and all, but that's honestly just how I feel. Considering on the possibility that everything I'm saying right now could pretty much happen if we do in fact lose, could you even blame me?"

"Well, I wouldn't blame you at all." Bonnie hunched his shoulders. "I could be in your position thinking of the same thing. But _trust_ me. We're gonna win. Even if we d don't we have to _assume_ that we're gonna win just to keep the team spirit. Try not to worry about it."

_"Now here I am again worrying myself to death about the whole situation. It's just that you have a sense of what could happen and how you might end up going home if your worst case scenario plays out today, and that is where the paranoia sets in for me. Because if we do lose, if people aren't even thinking about other options other than myself, then I'm a goner. So at this point, it's best to have anyone go but me."_

-/-

Now knowing that it was a sunny day, the knights took the perfect opportunity to go for a swim.

Rouge in particular was hanging around Greninja.

"Oh, so you mean to tell me that you use water to fight?"

"Yeah." He chuckled I do. "I know fighting with water is typically effective as a few ants crawling up on you at night when you're unaware, but trust me. It really does work when I want it to. Water has always been my natural power."

"Ah, well if you can cool me off on a hot summer day, then don't be afraid to attack me with your powers, boy." Rouge giggled as she lied down to float in the water.

As Greninja continued to laugh, it caused Knuckles to turn around to look at the scene.

_"I am not going to say anything as of now until I know if we win the next immunity or not, but if we do lose, I am gonna do whatever it takes to get Rouge off the island. I thought that I could trust her as well as her possibly be a friend of mine, but after I found out about her true colors yesterday, it really showed me what type of person Rouge really is. She is one of those girls that will pretend to play with the guys for a little bit until she realizes that she doesn't need them anymore. And so, she tried to throw me under the bus in front of Krystal yesterday and as I am saying this, she's probably talking about me to Greninja right now. That girl can not be trusted. So in case the group still decides to keep Luigi around, I have to throw Rouge's name out there to not to just get rid of her altogether, but I can not afford having a target on my back after that blindside on Cloud..."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 9**

* * *

"Alright, we're about to leave. Where's Krystal? ...Tell her to come on over here so we can be ready."

_"After what Luigi told me yesterday, I could tell that he's generally about himself as well as this tribe. It really had me thinking, especially that two, almost **three **people weren't on the same page as the rest of us as far as how the vote played out, and apparently the number one priority as of now is to keep everybody together and clear the air. The last thing we need is the next challenge is to have all of us all over the place. So I wanted to make sure everyone, including Knuckles and Rouge, know what tribe we're on basically. Nothing like a good motivational talk this morning."_

"Okay, we need everybody to just gather around real quick before we go." Bonnie Roberts managed to get all of his tribemates standing around as he began to talk. "I know about what we did at tribal was big, but believe me. Whether we made the right move or not, time will officially tell at this upcoming challenge. Those emperors are gonna think that we're screwing ourselves over, but we know what we're doing. All nine of us really need to push ourselves to prove to them that we can continue to win challenges even after our strongest member is no longer with us."

_"Back at home I'm involved in playing in this band for kids for entertainment, and every time we're on stage we always make sure we have good chemistry, communication, and everything else that goes with it. We always got to put our best efforts in front of our audience even if something happens right before we're about to get on stage. As long as we recognize what our current priority is, then that's what all our energy needs to focus on, and right now it's about us winning this next challenge in Survivor with my tribemates. And so, I wanted to let them all know that even without Cloud, we can still do this."_

"..._Man_, I wish we had like this war paint or something..."

Some of Bonnie's fellow knights laughed.

"But anyway, I like each and every one of you, we're all great in our way, and I feel that we should put every ounce of every that we have to prove those emperors wrong no matter what it takes. And even if we somehow do lose, then at least we know that we gave it all we got. You all with me?"

"Yep."

"Hundred percent."

"Absolutely."

"Let's do it."

_"I now have a full understanding of why I'm a knight in my own way. Sometimes it's not just about how hard you work. It's about the overall vibe of everyone who is on the same team as you and giving them enough motivation so that we can all do well at whatever we're doing. Sorta __cliché to say, but you can do anything if you set your mind to it."_

* * *

**Day 9**

* * *

"Come on aboard, guys!"

For the day nine immunity challenge, it was more water-themed unlike the previous two. One by one, the emperors all boarded a large platform from a boat so that they could all see the master.

Soon afterwards, another boat came by dropping off the knights.

"Emperors, get your first look at the new Chatan tribe."

Freddy's mouth slowly hung open, Shadow widened his eyes, Zelda covered her hands over her mouth, and Ghirahim was absolutely speechless.

"..._What_?"

"Cloud voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"...What?" Marth could not have believed it.

"That's a game changer..." mumbled Mega Man.

"_Why_?" Pac-Man scratched his head being as confused as ever.

"Well..." Foxy muttered under his breath taking a small glance away.

"Knights," Master Hand earned the attention of the tribe who just suffered from having their first casualty. "the emperors are clearly in shock. Roy, you look absolutely speechless. Why the shocked reactions?"

"It is mind-blowing the fact that they seemed to target him of all people even though he seemed to be pulling his weight in the challenges. Not one of us expected a person like Cloud to be out of the game so early."

"Alright, well you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?" The host of Survivor nimbly changed topics. "First things first, I need to take back the immunity idol."

Zelda met him halfway as the hand placed the idol back on the stand near him. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you will race over a series of obstacles, where you will then release two sets of buoys, gathering all the _marked_ buoys, where the remaining tribe members will attempt to shoot them in a basket. First tribe that scores eight baskets, wins immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the _third_ person voted out of this game."

"In addition, you're playing for a reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?" Master Hand floated to the covered items to reveal. "_Comfort_."

The castaways were more anticipated than they ever were.

"Chairs, pillows, blankets, a hammock, and most of all, a _tarp_ to keep you dry."

"Ooh, let's tell everyone that we _need_ that tarp." Pac-Man told Mega Man, the yellow male whispering to Shadow. "Shadow, we _need_ that tarp."

"Okay..."

"I'll give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity and reward. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

On each of the opening platforms floating in the water were five emperors and five knights. Freddy and Ghirahim leaped in the water first for the Nago tribe while Greninja and Bonnie volunteered to be the first in the water for the Chatan tribe. The four players climbed up and quickly slid down a ramp, splashing into the water before starting to swim again.

"Chatan is off to an early lead not messing around!"

"Let's go, boys!"

"Nago is right behind!"

"Keep it up, guys!"

Greninja and Bonnie managed to make it to the seesaw net first. They had to walk further up the net so that the seesaw had enough weight for the two knights to walk back down. At that point Ghirahim and Freddy were just now getting started on the second obstacle.

"The next step is to get under that rope and release your first set of buoys!" Master Hand reminded them. "...Greninja's going underwater to release his! Here comes Ghirahim and Freddy!"

Underwater, with a quick pull of the handle, Greninja released the yellow team's buoys in no time, not noticing Ghirahim going underwater for his team.

"Greninja has _quickly_ released his buoys for Chatan! Both of you start swimming back!"

Ghirahim managed to release his with little to no trouble at all.

"...Ghirahim has released his buoys for Nago! ..._Go_, Chatan!"

Now it was Foxy and Sheik's turn to get in the water as Ghirahim and Freddy made their way to the other platform to reach the rest of the team with them pulling them over.

"_Go_, Nago! It is now going to be Shulk and Shadow in the water for the emperors as Foxy and Sheik are already getting to the first obstacle."

Shadow managed to get the ramp first, yet he chose to wait for a quick second for Shulk to catch up before the two began to climb and make their way over.

"Shulk and Shadow getting over! Everybody swimming to the second obstacle now!"

The two knights began to get over the seesaw net, making it change its position before they made their way down.

"We are nearly neck and neck!"

And the next thing Shulk and Shadow knew, they were back in the water for their tribe, subsequently getting underneath the rope.

"It's gonna be Sheik retrieving the buoys for the knights, and Shadow retrieving the buoys for the emperors!"

Both castaways swiftly performed their part of the challenge, the four currently in the water swimming back immediately after.

"Go, Chatan! Go, Nago! Now Marth and Krystal have to go through the course, but they're responsible for retrieving all the marked buoys so the shooters can shoot them in their baskets!"

Krystal was already proving to be victorious in the water over Marth as she making her way through the obstacle course with little to no problems. It was not that Krystal was the best swimmer in the world, it was just the theory that Marth Lowell was simply not known for his swimming. As a result, Chatan's lead began to increase.

"Nago falling behind a little but Marth is not giving up..."

Krystal was now in the water beginning to find and toss the correct buoys to her tribe, while Marth was only just now making his way over the seesaw. Fortunately for the emperors, as Master Hand would have said, they were still in it.

"Marth back in the water and he is finally going to start tossing those buoys over!"

Yet when he was locating buoy number three, Krystal's job with the challenge was complete.

"Go, knights! Knuckles and Rouge, start shooting!" Master Hand told them as Luigi and Shovel Knight jumped in the water in order to return any buoys that were to miss the basket. "...Knuckles is shooting and he already has a buoy in!"

Marth finally tossed the final ball needed for Roy and Pac-Man to start shooting.

"Go, emperors! It is going to be Roy and Pac-Man shooting for the team!" Master Hand announced as Mega Man in Zelda were now in the water, playing the role of Luigi and Shovel Knight.

"Pac-Man is shooting now! ...And he's got one in! ...It is now... _2_-1 as Knuckles scores another basket for Chatan!"

"That's right, keep it up!" Greninja was clapping his hands together as his tribe cheered on, witnessing Knuckles scoring yet another point.

"One, two, _three_!" Pac-Man counted to himself as he leaped up to shoot the ball, with it actually making it in. "_Yes_!"

"Don't get too excited." Roy warned him. "We're not done _yet_. If you want me to shoot, let me know."

"Oh, okay. Why don't _you_ give it a try!" Pac-Man stated with a smirk as he stepped aside.

"Okay?" Roy grabbed the ball and threw it high, only for it to miss far off to the right. "...You know what, I'll let you shoot the baskets for now on. I've never really practiced this 'basketball' sport before..."

"Chatan leads 4-1! Knuckles is on fire!"

"_Will you two stay focused!?_" Ghirahim shouted from behind the two emperors. Though Pac-Man was starting to catch up.

"Pac-Man scores another one! ...Knuckles... In and out!"

Luigi immediately headed for the ball that landed near him so that he could give it back.

"Mind if I have a go at it?" Rouge asked, Knuckles slickly rolling his eyes at her, yet giving her a buoy nonetheless.

"...Rouge scores! It is now 5-2!"

"Uh-oh, we gotta hurry up!" Pac-Man widened his eyes as he began to shoot slightly quicker, yet giving himself less time to make sure he aimed correctly. Luckily for him, he managed to score a couple more points as Rouge scored herself another.

"Chatan leads 6-4 as Nago is starting to close that gap!"

"Okay, switch, switch, switch!" Knuckles snatched the ball from Rouge's hands as he shoved her over slightly, nearly making her fall down. However, with him taking no time in scoring the second to last point, Rouge knew that it she could have only brushed it off as a minor thought.

"Chatan leads 7-4! For the win..."

Pac-Man missed his basket.

Knuckles on the other hand...

"_**CHATAN WINS IMMUNITY AND REWARD!**_"

Ghirahim stomped his foot as Zelda never even bothered to toss the ball back as she and Mega Man began to swim their way back, the Knights tribe celebrated as if they never celebrated for anything else in their lives.

-/-

"Knights, second immunity win. Who wants it?"

"_I'll_ get it this time." Rouge grinned as she grabbed the idol from Master Hand. However, after taking a brief look, she chose to give it to Luigi. "Here you go."

"Oh, thanks!"

"Now before we send you guys off, now you have to make a decision." The Survivor host wanted to make sure the nine remaining knights remembered the twist. "Who are you gonna send to Exile Island?"

They talked just for a bit.

"We're going to send Marth again." Greninja announced.

Lowell shook his head in reaction as he already stepped away from his tribe.

"Don't be too disappointed Marth, because now somebody has to go join you. Emperors, who is joining Marth from the Knights tribe?"

Marth's team took a bit more time with their discussion as their opposition all stared.

"Alright. Who's it gonna be?"

Ghirahim decided to make the announcement. "We are going to send Sheik to exile."

As Sheik moved her head forward a bit, the rest of Chatan all exchanged confused glances.

"Okay. Marth and Sheik, boat is waiting for ya. Head on out."

With the two leaving, it was now Chatan's turn for dismissal. "Chatan, since we are on water, your reward will be waiting for you back at camp. You guys can head on out. This time you all can swim the shore."

Literally every last member of Chatan leaped in full of excitement and satisfaction.

"Nago, got nothing for you. I will see you all at Tribal Council where someone will be the third person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. You have the afternoon to figure out who that's gonna be."

_"Since we lost the immunity challenge, we decided to send Sheik to Exile Island so that by the time she gets back to camp, the Knights tribe will erupt into **chaos**." Ghirahim explained Nago's decision making. "**My** idea of course. Idol paranoia is everything. ...But anyway, we lost a challenge. **Again**..."_

* * *

**Well, at least for now, Nago once again has the disadvantage by them losing the immunity challenge thanks to Marth's not-so-perfect performance in the water, as well as one of the shooters in Chatan being Knuckles. (Pac-Man actually did a pretty good job and he even knew when it was time to speed it up and play more aggressively.)**

**So throughout this chapter, we finally managed to learn what Zelda's plans are at this point after she was targeted before the first Tribal Council of the season, by making sure Shadow and Ghirahim are always on peoples' mind, especially Shadow. But then again, Shadow himself wants to push Ghirahim out there. So at this moment for the Nago tribe, the vote seems to be either for Zelda, Shadow, or Ghirahim. But then again, it's Survivor and anything can change of course, so we'll see.**

**As for the Chatan tribe, we have Knuckles continue to plot against Rouge for him not trusting her anymore, as well as a nice little moment from Bonnie. But other than that, after the Emperors tribe were completely stunned to find Cloud gone, they chose to send Sheik to Exile Island instead of Shovel Knight again thanks to apparently Ghirahim who wanted the tribe to start getting paranoid of who from their tribe might find and locate the idol. Interesting strategy.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Based on the results of the challenge, how would the tribe react to Zelda's plan as a whole?**

**2\. What do you make of Bonnie basically motivating the Chatan team this morning?**

**3\. Was Nago/Ghirahim's idea of sending Sheik to Exile Island a good one? What are the pros and cons of it?**

**I'll see you all this Saturday for the third elimination of this season! For anyone that hasn't voted yet, vote for your top five players of this season!**


	10. Chapter 10: Day 9 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 10 - Day 9 Part 2

**Welcome back to this story and now it's time for the official third elimination in this story (it's either going to be Shadow, Pac-Man, Mega Man, Roy, Zelda, Freddy, Ghirahim, or Shulk). The only person who is 100% safe is Marth since because he is on Exile Island, now he can't go to Tribal Council just like Shovel Knight didn't have to go last time, which means that Shovel Knight is going to be the very last person that will attend Tribal Council lol.**

**So last time Chatan tribe's risky move to send Cloud home actually paid off since they did in fact won that immunity challenge proving to the emeperors that they could in fact survive without Cloud Strife. Good for them, but now the emperors have to pay the price. But like last time, we will get through Exile Island first.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Exile Island**

**Day 9**

* * *

"So how was Shovel Knight?"

"He is someone that I definitely would not mind being friends with in the future."

_"I've gotten sent to Exile Island once again by the Knights tribe, though unlike previously, this time it is with Sheik who is apparently a ninja undercover. Hmm... interesting. Anyway, since I am with Sheik, ever since we both got on that boat, I've wondered how would I explain to her about the idol since I knew she was going to find out sooner or later."_

The two were by the treemail as Marth showed her the hidden immunity idol clue that he picked up from the other day.

"...And you still haven't found it yet?" Sheik spoke as she stared at the paper.

Marth Lowell hoped that Sheik would believe him. "Trust me. I a hundred percent do not have it in my possession. Check each and every corner of my bags."

"Well, if you're to say something like _that_ then I believe you." The female laughed. "But for my tribe, I don't know if Shovel Knight has it or not. However, this could start to motivate him to look even harder now. I can't wait to get back to Chatan tomorrow so that I could have a look for it myself."

_"Greninja was right." Sheik confirmed. "The idol for Chatan is in fact back on the tribe like he predicted, which works to my advantage personally. I bet those emperors chose me over him to keep us guessing who has it. However, no matter who has it, I'm basically aligned with Shovel Knight, anyway. So if anything, this just increased **our **chances of finding it. Thank you, emperors! Hahaha!"_

"So... I guess we can just... hang out on this beach for the rest of the day?" The Legend of Zelda character raised her eyebrow.

"Uneventful, but yes." Marth sighed and begin to walk in the woods. "I'll help with the firewood..."

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 9**

* * *

Roy, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy, Mega Man, Zelda, Ghirahim, and Shadow made their way back to their camp disappointed yet again.

_"I hope those knights rip themselves to shreds, especially after our decision that we made today after the challenge." Ghirahim spoke. "I have no clue of how Cloud was sent to be with Peach at Ponderosa, but that is another topic for another time. We lost our immunity challenge. Now we have to deal with the master later on. We did not know that Marth was not the best swimmer, and that cost us a bit of time. Pac-Man can shoot baskets but apparently he can't swim. **Really**?"_

He literally snapped his finger right behind Freddy's back, making him turn around slightly startled.

"_Follow __me_." He mouthed as he was already seeing Shulk wander off to the woods.

"Hey Shulk, while you're out there," Pac-Man got up from his spot in the shelter to bring him his canteen. "Can you fill this up for me? Thanks."

Shadow thought quickly and rose. "I'll volunteer as well."

Ghirahim smirked and muttered. "_Perfect_."

Yet all the while, it was not as if it never caught the attention of Zelda.

_"The minute when we approach the camp, Ghirahim started to pull people to the side and wander off so he could startegize, most likely to take me out of the challenge today. I guess if Marth was here, I would not be surprised if he at least had an idea of getting rid of him, considering that his strategy is to only focus on the challenges. However, what I could potentially do is to point it out to everyone on the tribe in order to let them know that Ghirahim can not be trusted if we are planning on moving forward as one. However, the downside to it is even though I can get the target off myself by shifting the heat to Ghirahim, the number one target for me is Shadow in order for me to have more longevity in the game. The worst part of it all was that Chatan sent out their strongest member. So even if they are willing to keep me around, they might be more motivated to write down Ghirahim's name instead of Shadow's. That being stated, my question to myself is to how do I push Shadow's name out there so that he can be targeted instead?"_

The hedgehog moved a couple feet before realizing that he nearly forgot to bring his bag with him.

_"Perhaps I could explain to them that we can use this opportunity by continuing to keep the tribe strong, rather than getting rid of our own strongest player so that we could win more challenges. Although, if it does not even work if we lose the next challenge, then we make the move to get rid of Ghirahim. That way if a swap was to occur after, both Shadow and Ghirahim would no longer be here and I would no longer have to worry about either of them."_

She was sitting beside Roy as they both eyed the fire. "Obviously the knights are not thinking that it is a hundred percent about the physical competition anymore..."

"_Clearly_..." Roy replied. "I wonder what was going on back there..."

"I am not certain at all, but perhaps we could use this to our advantage." The brunette suggested. "Even though I may not be the most physical of the team, I still have the desire to win challenges. We were still defeated even without Chatan having Cloud. If we need to be a strong, yet unified tribe, my suggestion would be to send Shadow home first, then Ghirahim later."

"I'm down for it." Roy nodded with little to no hesitation. "As long as either one of them goes home, then that is our best interest at this point..."

_"If we were to swap or merge anytime soon, the last thing we all need is to be down in numbers." said the eighteen year old redhead. "Shadow and Ghirahim are both two people the tribe would say that can't be trusted. Shadow is more subtle, but Ghirahim is more of an 'in-your-face' type of player. Everytime when I take a look at Shadow, he is almost always silent, and not in a good way. However, if I was stranded on an island such as this alone, I'd choose him over Ghirahim any day... even though I am more likely to hear Ghirahim's opinions face-to-face than Shadow's on certain things since he is clearly the more outspoken one..."_

"Let us just split the vote." Roy recommended. "That way if they somehow have something up their sleeve due to the idol situation that is going on, we would know for sure if one of them has it in their possession."

"Good plan." nodded Zelda.

-/-

"I can not believe that we were first _once_ given the advantage to perform better than those Chatan members, and we _still_ lost." Ghiraihm complained. "This is _ridiculous_. If Marth knew that he was a slow swimmer, why would you volunteer to help complete that part of the challenge. Now he is on Exile Island to where he is now _more_ likely to find the idol."

None of the other three characters that were with him at the water well bothered to say anything.

_"Where I come from, I am one of those that are simply used to be victorious no matter where I perform. The job is done, and I come out holding my head high every time. Coming here and losing two of the three immunity challenges is something that I am not familiar with. This has to **stop** or else, **no one ** from this tribe is winning the million dollar prize."_

"Marth _stinks_ at swimming." Ghirahim pointed at the ground just to make his point. "I know it is best to get rid of Zelda right now due to her still being the weakest of the nine of us as well as for my own personal reasons. However, Marth being on exile yet again does sound like a threat to me. I can not afford to be idol'd out here..."

"So if he's on exile with Sheik, what do we do from here?" Freddy raised an eyebrow.

"Hmm..." The tall man placed a finger beneath his chin. "You know what, in my opinion, our best option is to write down his closest ally, _Roy_ for strategical reasons. But only if we know that we can not get rid of Zelda."

"..." Not one blink.

"Yes, I know it is a bit much to target Roy this early even though he has yet to do anything that would make him a target, though Marth is on the island immune from tribal. The idol that he could have will obviously put him in a rather dangerous position. Roy is number one ally, so that will be the least we all can do. But as I am saying, this would _only _ occur if we know that Zelda is not going anywhere anytime soon. ...Even though, there are in fact eight people on this tribe,and we take up half of the tribe here. All we need is _one_ _**person**_ and we would officially get the majority after tonight's vote."

Freddy blinked. "Well, since Marth is on exile and if Mega and Pac are a pair, shouldn't we just approach Roy to help us get rid of Zelda?"

"..._Yes_, that would work, too. Roy is lucky..."

_"Ghirahim thinks myself, Freddy, and Shulk are gonna vote with him so that we can be four strong, swing over Roy, and take out Zelda. But the reality is, not one of us trust him as far as we can throw him. We are gonna send him home tonight not only because of that, but to make sure my name is not at the top of the list before we head to tribal. Chatan has sent home their strongest member, now it is our turn. I can make it on my own without Ghirahim and I do not need to help **him** win a million dollars or him to help my own self to win the million."_

"And I _swear_. This will probably be our absolute _last_ time the four of us are talking together like this, since this tribe is going to be just another member short, we will all be thought of every now and then and the others are going to start to wonder what we are doing, and then they are going to resort to stick their noses in our business. So _please _remember that. I will talk to each and every one of you individually."

With them watching him making his way back with a canteen in each of his hands, Freddy, Shulk, and Shadow exchanged a glance.

"Uh, are we about to blindside someone?" Shulk smirked with a slight chuckle.

"...Get rid of him..." Shadow wanted to make sure he made himself clear.

-/-

"Mega Man, come here!"

Pac-Man noticed Mega Man wandering near as he stood with Roy and Zelda.

_"So Tribal Council is happening soon, and since we need to vote somebody off, we **have** to make sure it's just the right person. And as of now," Pac-Man said. "there are plans all over the place, so we have to have something that is best for all of us."_

Mega Man was now with the three as Pac-Man began to explain what he was just informed of.

"We need to keep Zelda here tonight. As dangerous as he and Ghirahim might be, there _could _be the possibility that one of them has found the idol before Marth has since he is on Exile Island. Roy said that he wants to do a split vote plan to flush out the idol and he says that the perfect plan could be that me, you, and Roy all write down Shadow, while Zelda, Freddy, and Shulk all write down Ghirahim, and when Master Hand announces that we are going to have a re-vote, we need to choose which person goes home. Who do you think it's the best option?"

"You guys still haven't decided?"

He watched Pac-Man shake his head as an answer.

"...Don't you all think we should just unanimously vote someone out so that we have less of a risk someone being unhappy and angry by the time when we return here tonight?"

"Unanimously?" Pac-Man began using his index finger to scratch his head. "Doesn't that mean we all vote the same person at the same time?"

"It means that every single person is in on in agreement on something." Roy clarified. "He's saying that we all vote for the same person, meaning either Ghirahim or Shadow."

"Ohhhh... That makes more sense."

"I mean, think about it." Mega Man broke it down as Freddy was heard walking towards the group. "I don't think it's likely that either of them has the idol, and knowing both of their reputations here, if we split the votes between the two of them then the other person stays might feel isolated from the rest of the team, which will eventually motivate them to flip on us."

_"The moment when I heard that they were splitting the votes between Shadow and Ghirahim, my heart sank." One of the smaller emperors admitted. "Not only Shadow's name will be written down again tonight, but now there's a possibility that Shadow might be voted out. And for my game, I can't afford to have Shadow upset. I need to have him as close to me as possible to let him know that I really need him to stay. Now I have to convince everyone to not only **not** split the votes, but to make sure Ghirahim goes home instead... And the last thing I want is to say too much to make my own self a target then **I'm ** one that is getting a torch snuffed tonight..."_

"Trust me." The humanoid robot said. "Normally I am all for split vote plans, but since Shadow and Ghirahim are the type of people that will get angry rather easily, especially Ghirahim, they will no longer feel like they're part of the team. And since Ghirahim is more emotional than Shadow is, then we're in for a nightmare."

_"I think I might have to tell Shadow to write down Ghirahim at this point..."_

-/-

"They're splitting the votes..."

"...Really?" Shadow popped an invisible eyebrow at Freddy.

"Roy apparently came up with a plan to have himself, Pac, and Mega write down your name, and me, Shulk, and Zelda write down Ghiraim. But Mega Man thinks that we should all unanimously vote out Ghirahim..."

Shadow simply stared.

"You think we should tell Ghirahim?"

_"There are so many fake plans on top of one another, covering up the real plan that is about to take place here." Shadow spoke. "Everybody here is out for themselves to get that money, including me. But apparently my name is much further on the chopping block than I thought, and I gotta make sure I do anything I can to make sure I'm not going home..."_

"...I'll tell him." Shadow lowered his head. "This might make him think that our four votes would be enough to take out Zelda. We're fine as long as thinks that it's someone else that will get hammered on tonight."

Now the emperors were gathering their torches one by one with bags packed leaving the Nago camp.

_"I won't be surprised if Tribal Council is rather interesting. All I can say is that someone is not about to be in the best of moods when they find out the **truth**..."_

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 9**

* * *

It was the second trip to Tribal Council for the Nago tribe minus Marth as they all entered the area once again. This time, since all eight of them already had their torches in hand, they simply placed them down in the slots behind them, sitting down in the seats in front of them, each eyeing Master Hand waiting for him to begin to Tribal Council discussion.

"Alright, so last Tribal Council, the main topic was the immunity challenge where this tribe clearly didn't want to lose again, causing Peach to get voted out." The master started. "You guys then won the next challenge, but before the challenge today took place, you all were absolutely stunned to see Cloud, seeming a very physical guy, gone second at the knights _first_ Tribal Council."

A few nods confirmed it.

"Zelda, at the last Tribal Council, you and Peach were the targets of the vote. But because of what the Knights tribe decided to do, does that give you an advantage?"

"It definitely does." She agreed a hundred percent. "Challenges were Nago's top priority, so they chose to send Peach home because of it. However, it seems to be the exact opposite for Chatan. And the more this tribe thinks about it, I'd say that it definitely increases my chances of staying here tonight."

"But master," Ghirahim was already talking. "just because those knights decided to boot out their strongest member doesn't mean we have to. If anything, this could be an advantage for the entire tribe. If we vote off a weak link tonight,"

Zelda almost instantly shifted her head with a slight glare.

"then this tribe will become even stronger." He finished his sentence. "That way if Chatan loses the next immunity challenge, it would make them look foolish of their decision to boot out possibly the strongest person in that tribe over there."

"But Ghirahim," Master Hand decided to step in. "this is exactly what makes the emperors and knights in this game two different types of people. This tribe right now could be considering to get rid of the weakest links in order so that you all can continue to dominate in challenges, but for the knights, it could be a completely different story going on over there. And at the end of the day, they still won _today's_ challenge. So for them, whatever they are doing is actually working. If it they just so happen to win the next immunity challenge, _you guys _will be down in numbers."

A few eyes including Zelda's continued to remain on Ghirahim.

"...You know what," the tall man began to shake his head. "that might actually be a valid point. I'm not going to ridicule them for it. It is part of their game and I respect their gameplay. If they are going for long term, that's go on them... _However_, we are _not_ the Knights tribe. Let me make myself clear for everyone involved. We. Are. _Not_. The Knights tribe. We must continue to do whatever we were doing so we can somehow be up in numbers soon."

"But Master Hand," Zelda began to speak again. "perhaps indirectly taking a bit of advice from the knights wouldn't hurt. They're proving right now that because they won the challenge today, that not everything has to be about physical strength. For all we know, some challenges are going to have those that include our minds only. I do not mean to gloat over my success in any way, but even this team could agree that I can do a puzzle of some sort."

"Though most parts of the challenges are related to physical capability." Ghirahim argued back, this time finally glaring at Zelda. "Therefore, we can not simply keep those who only excel in puzzles alone."

Zelda simply sighed.

"Roy, what do you think the challenges are all about?"

"...All of the above." He replied. "I do believe that we need both brawn and brains if we need to win challenges. We do have some strong players, smart players, and all around players. So I believe that we would be foolish if we simply focus on physical strength alone, but at the same time, winning immunities should be some sort of priority around here."

"Freddy, you're nodding your head."

"I do agree... with everybody." He said. "Everybody is right to some degree. We need some strength, some brain power, and some that communicates well with others, and that is what I believe Chatan could be focusing on. But if we were to get rid of a physical player right now, I'm just hope that I'm not the deer in the headlights. ...I mean, I was literally picked by the knights on who they thought were the strongest, so it can put a guy like me in a difficult situation."

"Don't worry, Freddy." Ghirahim told him from the other side of the top of row. "You aren't going anywhere."

"It is obviously me at this point, master." Zelda nodded in confirmation. "Ghirahim has been targeting me since we lost the first immunity challenge and nothing has changed at this point."

"Well, if we want things to go our way this tribal, we should simply get rid of one of the weakest players of Nago at _least_ one last time."

"Well, Ghirahim," The Hryulian turned her head towards him again. "when you say that getting rid of me is the best option, are you saying that is best for Nago's interest, or are you saying that for your _own_ interest."

Ghirahim shrugged in response. "A little of _both_, basically..."

"Excuse me, can I ask Ghirahim a question really quick?" Pac-Man suddenly raised his hand, his curiosity starting to get the best of him.

"...Go on ahead!" Master Hand held his hand out as Pac-Man was now the center of attention of the tribal, him rotating his head to Ghirahim.

"I just have a question. ...Who _are_ you?"

"Yeah..." Shulk nodded to back Pac-Man up. "I've been wondering about that for the longest time myself. Literally every other person on this tribe including Peach has at least explained what they do for a living. ...But I feel like we haven't really got to know you that well..."

He main remained silent as his eyes shifted back to the host.

"...Well, Ghirahim,..." Master Hand decided to play along. "_who are you_?"

Literally every last person all focused on Ghirahim as they all awaited for his answer.

"..."

"..." Zelda raised an eyebrow.

"..." The grey skinned male then smirked at the master. "..._The_ _unknown_."

Mega Man actually facepalmed, Zelda ended up burying her face in her hands, and there were even a couple snickers heard from the tribe.

"...Okay?" The reality TV show host did not know exactly how to reacted. "...Are you perhaps a mystery?"

"Yes, let us leave it at that."

Zelda at that point was eyeing the floor as Shadow for some reason never took his eyes off of him.

"..._Well_, after another Tribal Council discussion about the challenges and how should people vote, I think now is the time to put this show on the road." The discussion had come to a close. "...No pun intended..."

A few laughs were heard once more.

"It is _time_ to vote. Shadow, you're up."

He hopped out of his seat and proceeded to the Tribal Council voting booth to cast his vote, followed by Roy and Mega Man shortly after.

"This was the only vote I can make. Nothing personal."

Freddy and Zelda were the ones that voted next, Ghirahim and Pac-Man being next in line.

"I think that no matter whose name I would have put down on here,_ somebody_ is going to get blindsided. I can't wait!"

After Shulk took his turn on voting, he sat back down in his seat.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Ghirahim chose to whisper to Shulk who was conveniently directly next to him. "Do you think it is going to best just us four that voted for her, or there is going to be more?"

"We'll see..."

Master Hand came back with the urn. "If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now is the time to do so..."

Shulk took a glance at everyone before turning back to the master once he realized that there was no idea that anybody chose to play.

"Okay. Once the votes are read, the decision is final." Master Hand told them. "Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Zelda brought both of her hands together, yet she kept her composure.

"First vote... Ghirahim."

He shrugged his shoulders, not even concerned in the slightest.

Zelda blilnked.

"Zelda."

Now Ghirahim faced Zelda with the biggest sarcastic smirk.

"One vote Zelda, one vote Ghirahim."

Freddy rocked his head from side to side as Shadow lowered his head a little, yet still kept his focus with arms folded.

"...Ghirahim."

Though his smirk was gone, he still seemed pretty confident

"...Ghirahim_. _That's three votes Ghirahim, one vote Zelda."

He moved his head slightly similar to Shadow.

Shulk had his body slumped over as Zelda stayed in her position.

"...Ghirahim."

At that point, his eyebrow immediately lifted.

As Mega Man simply stared, Pac-Man actually kept a smirk.

Zelda blinked agian.

"Third person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Ghirahim."

He just sat there, with both eyes widened and both eyebrows raised.

"That's five, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

"..." Sigh. The man slowly rose up from his seat and picked up the torch that was right behind him.

"I do not know what you all were trying to accomplish by the decision you made, but whatever what the plan was, good job I suppose..."

Zelda never took her eyes off of him.

"Ghirahim, the tribe has spoken."

He actually smirked largely as he stared at him putting his torch out.

"Time for you to go."

And with that, he simply left.

Pac-Man kept his confident smirk as everyone else eyed Ghirahim until he was out of sight.

"Well, even though _clearly _you guys didn't vote for the absolute weakest member of the tribe as what the person voted out was suggesting, this time it is just like Roy said. I think the knights just gave you some advice. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

And the eight members of the new Nago team picked up their torches and exited the area.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

**_Votes:_**

**Zelda**** \- Ghirahim**

**Ghirahim**** \- Zelda**

**Roy**** \- Ghirahim**

**Shadow**** \- Ghirahim**

**Mega Man**** \- Ghirahim**

**Pac-Man**** \- Ghirahim**

**Shulk**** \- Ghirahim**

**Freddy**** \- Ghirahim**

_**18th Place:**_** Ghirahim**

* * *

_"Quite a shocker to say the least. I could've sworn I made some sort of agreement with three of the members of my tribe, and I felt that the rest was at least acknowledging of what I was suggesting to help the tribe when it came to the competition. Nonetheless, whatever reason why I am no longer in the game, perhaps it was a good idea to send me packing sooner rather than later. Otherwise, things would have gotten just a bit more complicated..."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy / Luigi, Shiek, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Rouge, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

* * *

**And there you have it. Ghirahim is eliminated in 18th place. Kind of interesting of how I didn't even want to write about Ghirahim (never cared for him that much initially) even though I put him in this story (Skyward Sword was one of the few Zelda games I played) but after quick research, he's actually an interesting villain (never completed Skyward Sword lol) and he seemed like he could have been a big character in this and he's already out lol. For this vote, I give credit to Shadow, Zelda, and Mega Man, the former wasting no time in betraying Ghirahim, Mega Man most likely persuading the tribe to not only forget the split vote plan, but to also target Ghirahim over Shadow. And even though Zelda preferred to send the hedgehog home, at least she got rid of someone that she wanted to get rid of eventually anyway.**

**So now with the emperors now down to eight members, all they could hope for at this point is that Chatan needs to lose the next immunity challenge so the score can be even after both tribes would lose two members each. Otherwise if they lose yet again, things of course would not be getting better for the Nago tribe.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you think it was a good move for the tribe to send Ghirahim home, or do you think it was too early?**

**2\. Who do you think this move benefited the most?**

**3\. Which of the two knights would actually find the idol? Shovel Knight or Sheik? ...Unless somebody does? (lol)**

**Watch my YouTube intro if you haven't already, vote on your top five players this season and I will see you all Wednesday!**


	11. Chapter 11: Day 10 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 11 - Day 10 Part 1

**Alright, I'm back! So now that we have gone through Ghirahim's elimination, now the emperors are at the disadvantage here as they are one member short. So now they need to win the next immunity challenge, or else, _they're _the ones that will turn into the underdogs this season lol. But that means that if they win, then it's going to be anyone's game.**

**Now as far as idols are concerned, nobody has found an idol _yet_ lol. And right now the people that are up for consideration are Shovel Knight, Marth, Sheik, and Shulk, the latter wanting to somehow find one before Marth does. So it'd be interesting to finally find out who's going to get an idol.**

**Enjoy the chapter!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Night 9**

* * *

For the second time that season, the emperors leaned their torches against the tree.

"Quick, guys!" Pac-Man shouted as he ran to the shelter. "It's raining!"

"Not again..." Freddy mumbled.

_"I am satisfied at the result." Zelda was pleased. "I felt as if a weight had just been lifted off my shoulders. Even though the vote was not exactly the way I would have preferred, at least Ghirahim was supposed to be next anyway due to his character as well as not having the best reputation in the tribe. I survived one more night and now I have to keep fighting based on what is to come in the future."_

"Where's the tarp!?"

"The knights already won it, Pac-Man..." Shulk replied

Pac-Man blinked. "Aww... We _needed_ that!"

Shadow nimbly made his way inside the shelter to get away from the rain.

_"Ghirahim was no use." He said. "If the supposed Pair Up Alliance actually existed, I wouldn't have minded working with him at all. But since it was clear that it was not the truth, I felt that he was much too paranoid for his own game. He played too hard, too early, and he deserved to get the boot. Now I have to move forward and ponder to myself what else I can do to stay out here."_

Mega Man took a quick look at Shadow before he placed his torch against the tree, him ending up being the last one to head for the shelter.

_"After Freddy's warning, Mega Man came up to me to confirm that they were performing a split vote plan to try and target me. He was right after all. The tribe for some reason thinks that I basically don't deserve to be here because I am not bonding enough in their eyes by isolating myself from them. But if anything, they're isolating **me** from the tribe. Ugh... I'll think about it later in the morning..."_

Shulk sighed in front of everyone as he sat in the shelter staring at the rain falling on the ground. "Well, at least it's safe to say that it is going to be much quieter now..."

Pac-Man looked up at what was falling from the sky from where he was sitting. "I hope Marth and Sheik are okay..."

* * *

**Exile Island**

**Night 9**

* * *

_**BOOM!**_

At least Marth and Sheik had a small shelter that was just large enough for the both of them. Nevertheless, it did not mean that they were not one hundred percent satisfied due to the rain that was pouring.

"How many more hours?" questioned Marth.

"I bet your tribe is still at the Tribal Council..." Sheik assumed. "I doubt were even _close_ to midnight yet..."

"Well, at least your tribe has won the shelter making kit _and _the tarp." Marth reminded. "I doubt it's as bad for you all at Chatan."

_"The rain is downright horrible to say the least." Sheik complained. "Marth's right. Even though we have the advantage thanks to the tarp in the shelter, it doesn't mean that we're going to be one hundred percent comfortable. We're all still cold and wet and we're just sitting there for who knows how long all in one place. But in the end, I suppose it is teaching us that we are all thankful in our real lives for having roofs over our heads..."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 10**

* * *

And it was still raining the following morning, even when Sheik returned to the shelter. Yet of course she never saw anyone initially; most likely there was even the possibility that none of them knew she stepped foot back on the island until she walked in front of them, seeing all eight of them either resting or sitting up on the bamboo.

"I'm back..." She said.

With a few raised heads and turns, they all greeted at him as Rouge and Bonnie moved over to give the ninja some space in the shelter.

"How was Exile Island?" Foxy grinned out of sarcasm. "Terrible?"

"Not the best, I suppose..." She replied with a sigh.

"So that's basically a nice way of saying terrible. Gotcha." The red fox laughed. "Don't worry. Things certainly aren't that much better here. Those couple blankets that we have aren't enough."

"I just want to make a fire..." complained Knuckles. "Why can't we just build a log cabin and just put a fire in the center?"

"Ronnie tried that in All-Stars." Krystal brought up. "Didn't work..."

"...So we just sit here until the rain stops!?"

"That seems to be our only choice..."

Luigi buried his head in his arms out of annoyance. "Should we sing the song now?"

"If songs can actually make the rain go away, then yes. But unfortunately, that's not the case..." Greninja answered. "I'm clearly a water guy, but when it's raining like this, it's not like I can actually do much out there other than to just sit and wait, being cold and wet on top of it..."

_"When I came back to camp I felt right sorry for them." Sheik admitted. "There were all huddled up together like penguins... Ugh... I just can not wait for sunshine again. At least for a bit today... **hopefully**..."_

* * *

**Day 10**

* * *

At the next challenge, there were two different posts representing the tribes, with a ring singing on a different post far out in the water.

"Come on in, guys!"

And in came the nine remaining knights in the game, still raining all the while. They knew very well that it was going to be a wet challenge, already being aware that they were going to be in the water, anyway.

"Knights, get your first look at the new Nago tribe..."

Rouge gasped and placed both her hands over her mouth.

"Ghirahim's gone..." Greninja stared.

"..._What_?" said Knuckles.

"Ghirahim voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"You gotta be kidding me..." Bonnie was shaking his head in disbelief.

"Hmm..." Krystal found it quite interesting. "They used the same strategy we did..."

All the emperors did plus Marth was simply stare at the other tribe react to their most recent casualty. But Master Hand as usual was already ready to move on with the challenge at hand.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's _reward_ challenge? For today's challenge, you guys are gonna race out to retrieve a ring. You will then race back with the ring while members of the other team will try to stop you by attempting to bring it to _their _ring in any way they can. In order to score a point, one hand must be touching both the ring and the flagpole. First team to three wins reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

He went over to the nearby table to reveal. "The winning tribe will have a choice. Here are the items that are at stake... _tool kit_... and a kitchen _cooking set__."_

Shadow's eyes were not focusing on anything else other than the tool kit that was begging for him to win it for the team.

"What can we cook when all we're eating is rice and coconut?" Knuckles popped an invisible eyebrow.

"It depends on what rewards we win in the future." Sheik answered. "And also, we can get creative with our... _recipes_..."

"Oh..."

"Knights, you have one extra person. You have to sit somebody out. Keep in mind you can not sit out the same person in back to back challenges, so that means whoever sits out this challenge must compete in the immunity challenge. So, who's it gonna be?"

Rouge raised her hand.

"Rouge, take your spot on the sit out bench." Master Hand pointed to the bench nearby. "Everyone else, I'll give you a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, we have our first matchup! It is going to be Zelda and Marth taking on Luigi and Sheik. Playing to three. Here we go, for reward, Survivors ready?"

The four competing players all had one hand on their pole ready to take off.

"..._**GO!**_"

They all immediately sprinted out in the water to the ring attempting to approach it as fast as they possibly could.

"Sheik gets to the ring first!"

"Come on!" She told Luigi as she began to swim her way over to her pole with Luigi pulling on the ring to help out. However, Marth ended up grabbing the ring, with Zelda following to make it more difficult.

"And we have a _battle!_" called out Master Hand as the teams begin to cheer.

"Marth and Zelda trying to make up some ground by dragging them further away from their flag, but it is slowly _not_ working as Sheik and Luigi getting closer.

It took some time, but eventually, Sheik was the one who grabbed her pole.

"Knights score! Chatan now has an early lead!"

And the other members cheered in reaction.

Shadow facepalmed.

-/-

"Alright, we have our next round. It is going to be Roy and Mega Man taking on Krystal and Shovel Knight. Survivors ready? _**GO!**_"

"Roy, you're just a bit faster!" Pac-Man pointed out cuffing his hands over his mouth. "You _have_ to get to the ring before any of the knights do!"

And he was actually successful. As he began to make his way back, he chose to toss the ring right to Mega Man who chose to stand aside in the water.

"Great catch by Mega Man!"

The blue bomber began to swim his way back to Nago's pole while Krystal and Shovel Knight were forced to chase Mega Man before he got too close. Although, the two of them were actually able to catch the ring.

"Shovel Knight and Krystal have it! Now they have it but now Roy and Mega Man are slowly pulling themselves and the ring closer to the pole!"

About a dozen seconds later, Roy leaped and his hand nimbly grasped the pole, his other hand still holding a tight grip on the ring.

"Nago scores!"

"YES!" Pac-Man jumped up and down with glee.

"We are now tied 1-1!"

-/-

The rain finally stopped.

"Time for round three." said the Master Hand. "We have Shadow and Pac-Man taking on Foxy and Greninja. Survivors ready?"

Foxy's scrunched up eyebrows meant that he was more determined than ever.

"..._**GO!**_"

All three contestants proved to be much faster than Pac-Man. And so, he made his own decision to stay behind and let Shadow have a chance at the ring.

"Pac-Man suddenly stops and lets everybody else go for it..."

Shadow managed to grab the ring and tossed it to Pac-Man, who catches it with no trouble at all.

"Stop halfway!" Foxy told Greninja as he decided to go after the ring by himself.

"We have quite a bit of strategy going on here..." Master Hand observed.

"Come on, emperors!" shouted Shulk.

"Pac-Man and Shadow both now have the ring and are approaching their flag!"

However, Foxy chose to launch himself at the ring, the sudden weight of his body actually caused the two Nago members to lose their grip on the ring, the red fox using it as an advantage to toss the ring to Greninja. As a result, Shadow knew he had to swim as fast as his body allowed him to.

"We got a _challenge_!"

With great effort, the hedgehog was actually able to grab the ring and begin to start making his way over to Pac-Man, pulling on said ring with all of his might.

"Here comes Pac-Man!"

Using his strength, Shadow was nearing the halfway point, not even noticing Pac-Man who kept struggling in the water due to the roughhousing that was going on.

"...Pac-Man, get up!"

"I... oof! I-I'm trying!"

"The emperors are getting a little closer to their pole!" Master Hand noted. "...But Foxy is not giving up!"

"Come on, Foxy!" Sheik called out as other encouraged with her.

"Come on!" With one burst at a time, Foxy used all the strength he had in his arm to pull the ring back to where he thought belonged, Greninja doing everything he could have to help out.

"The knights are pulling the ring back to _their_ flag!"

Foxy at that point was literally gritting his teeth as his free hand kept splashing the water as he continued to grew closer. And when he thought he was close enough, with all of his might and one last pull, he grabbed the pole.

"Chatan scores!"

The yellow team celebrated as if they already won.

"That's how you do it!" shouted Knuckles.

With irritation, Shadow was exiting the water, leaving Pac-Man to cough some of the water out.

"Chatan leads 2-1!"

-/-

"Alright, so here's where we at." The reality show host felt it was necessary for a brief recap. "Chatan leads 2-1 and we're playing to three. If the knights score again, they win reward. The emperors _need_ to score so that they could at least have a shot at winning. For this round, it is going to be Freddy and Shulk taking on Knuckles and Bonnie. Playing to three. Here we go. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

"Freddy sprinting! ...Shulk sprinting! ...Bonnie is sprinting but Knuckles is gonna stay behind! Four _strong_ guys. Without a doubt gonna be our toughest challenge, yet!"

Then out of nowhere Bonnie decided to lunge at the ring, but both Freddy and Shulk immediately grabbed it right before Bonnie was about to take off, causing Knuckles to hurry over to the other side of the area.

"...Knuckles is gonna try to block the ring from going past him..."

Freddy and Shulk were pulling as hard as they could.

"How are we gonna do this?"

"...We might have to battle it out..." Shulk suggested. "Go for the flag..."

When close enough, Shulk let go of the ring so he can take on Knuckles.

"Shulk is gonna try to prevent Knuckles from getting close to the ring, leaving Freddy and Bonnie all on their own. Bonnie is trying his best to pull the ring away from the emperors' pole but it is not working!"

Thus, emperors claimed victory.

"Nago scores! It is now tied 2-2!"

Knuckles used both hands to splash the water out of frustration. Not at anybody in particular, but just the fact that he and Bonnie did not score.

"Looks like we're not going to get the opportunity to choose today..." Rouge predicted from the bench.

-/-

"Alright, final round. It is anybody's game at this point. Everybody has already gone, so anyone has had the opportunity to go again." Master Hand explained. "With that being said, it is going to be Freddy and Shulk once again taking on Knuckles and Foxy. Here we go. For reward. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

This time, all four of them sprinted out towards the ring as if it was a free for all. Yet due to Knuckles and Foxy being faster, they were able to get to their ring first. Though realizing it quickly, Shulk held his arm out in front of Freddy to stop the both of them from progressing any further.

"The emperors have purposefully stayed behind trying to see what the knights will do..."

Knuckles and Foxy remained staring at each of the emperors both separately and as a team, Shulk distancing himself from Freddy.

Then all of a sudden, Knuckles tossed the ring as far as he could have towards Chatan's flag.

"Knuckles decided that he needed to take a big risk here..." Master Hand noted.

It was now a big race to the ring. Though Knuckles and Foxy had more speed, Shulk and Freddy already had a head start ahead of them. Having it in mind, Freddy wanted to make a move.

"Shulk, go for it!" Next thing he knew, he was taking on Foxy.

"Freddy trying to get Foxy in a hold as Shulk is swimming away, Knuckles trying to make it to the ring before Shulk does."

Shulk ended up getting the ring and decided to use Knuckles's own strategy against him as he tossed his ring directly to the emperors' pole.

"Now it is Shulk who is taking a risk!"

Freddy successfully managed to hold Foxy in place in the water as Foxy had to watch Shulk get a hold of the ring again, him having to swing the ring away from Knuckles who tried to lunge at it only to fall right in the water nothing.

"Shulk now has the advantage!"

Foxy desperately wanted to get free even though it was too little, too late.

"_**THE EMPERORS WIN REWARD!**_"

Most of the Nago tribe jumped up and down celebrating their victory as the Chatan tribe could have only watched.

Freddy finally decided to let Foxy though as Knuckles shook his head while he walked out.

-/-

"Alright, emperors. You have won. What are you going to choose?"

"We're taking the tool kit." Shadow immediately answered the master hand. "Those knights already had that kit and the tarp. With better tools, it means that we could have an even better shelter."

"Okay, tool kit it is." Master Hand confirmed. "And before you go,... you gotta send somebody for the Knights tribe to go to Exile Island."

All of Chatan froze in place.

"And whoever goes will return in time for the next immunity challenge. Choose wisely..."

The Emperors tribe promptly began discussing.

"...We need to send him out because it will weaken his tribe..."

"But, what about the idol? That would be three people from the tribe that might have the idol that could bite us in the end."

"It will cause the Knights tribe to be all over the place..."

"Alright, emperors." Master Hand was ready. "Who's it gonna be?"

The remaining nine yellow team members waited.

"...We're gonna send Shovel Knight." Roy answered, glancing at the actual knight of the team with a look of sympathy. "Shovel, I'm sorry..."

All eyes were on the Chatan member, yet he brushed it off. "Ah, no worries. I'll be back... _again_..."

"Shovel Knight, boat's waiting for ya just over there. Nago, come get your reward and get outta here." The hand took one last look at team yellow. "Chatan, got nothing for you. Head out."

_"The group's decision to send Shovel Knight back to Exile Island over Foxy wasn't the smartest idea whatsoever." Shadow shook his head with arms folded in frustration. "Foxy was the reason to why we almost lost, but they are so paranoid of the Knights using it to their own advantage if Foxy went. Seriously..."_

* * *

**Note: Ronnie = Rupert Boneham from Survivor - Pearl Islands (Season 7)**

**Okay, so we actually have a reward challenge here instead of an immunity challenge. In the actual show reward challenges start to happen separately on day ten (at least mostly as of late) so I decided to have one here. And the immunity challenge will happen just the next day so there's probably gonna be a lot going on next chapter in comparison to this one when we're not even at four thousand words.**

**Now let's talk about this chapter in particular. Other than the very physical challenge, people were complaining about the rain for obvious reasons lol. Like if I was out there stranded on the island with up to nine complete strangers cold and wet with no fire, who wouldn't be complaining for at a second (lol)? One of the many reasons on why I wouldn't actually apply for the show.**

**But other than that, I guess we can talk about Shadow for a bit about the decision of the emperors to send Shovel Knight over to Exile Island over Foxy who was a beast in that challenge (as well as Shadow himself not even caring about Pac-Man). The group decided that if they kept sending someone other than the same person to Exile Island than it would actually harm them in the long run when they need to vote out someone with an idol in their pocket for example. But Shadow wanted to pull off a Ghirahim basically. Yet Shadow was only one of eight emperors, so yeah. (Note: Those of you who know Shadow all too well, you guys should know to _never_ tick him off. Ever. ...Well same for Knuckles, but we're talking about Shadow here lol.)**

**Questions:**

**1\. How would Shadow react when he's back at the camp? Will he keep it to himself and play it strategically or will he have a follow up conversation at the camp?**

**2\. So Shovel Knight is actually going to Exile Island by himself right? The emperors chose to play it safe. Would there actually be another clue on the island, or at this point it's going to be just nothing? Also, would any of the other knights actually take advantage of this? (Reminder: Literally _no one_ has found an idol _yet_.)**

**...And that's all I have lol. So all I gotta say is that you guys can vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	12. Chapter 12: Day 10 Pt 2 & Day 11 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 12 - Day 10 Part 2 & Day 11 Part 1

**Okay, twelfth chapter near the end of the story's sixth week. As I stated last chapter, this chapter will have kind of a lot to get through. We have the Emperors tribe celebrating their victory at the reward challenge, the Knights tribe reacting to their loss of the reward challenge, Exile Island with Shovel Knight while all the while all the characters progressing through the day as other things occur, and then to top it all off, we have the next immunity challenge to get through. As I am typing this I have no idea how long this chapter is going to turn out, but I doubt it'll be as long as chapter three so we'll see.**

**As for the immunity challenge, I was all over the place deciding on what the challenge was gonna be. I kept going from David vs Goliath, to Pearl Islands, to even one of my own challenges in Kodai Island, and to even possibly making another new challenge for this season. But we'll see what I do this time...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 10**

* * *

An Okinawa woodpecker sat on a tree branch as it stared at the Nago tribe returning to their camp with their new reward.

_"We **aren't** going to lose every challenge!" Roy joked with a laugh. "But seriously, this is good. Even though it was not as crucial as winning the immunity idol, at least we still won. There were people here that were fearing the worst of losing one challenge after another causing to be down another member, but maybe with the reward that we have as well as our effort in the challenge, it will give us more motivation to perform at our best effort in the immunity challenge even if Ghirahim is no longer with us. So, this is definitely reminding me of being with my army back at home where we needed to have as much motivation as possible so we are able to perform and move forward."_

Shadow the Hedgehog was the very last emperor to arrive.

_"I threw out the idea of possibly sending Foxy to Exile Island when we were approached with a crucial decision to decide the Knights tribe's fate. I was literally up against Foxy when it was my turn to perform in the challenge, and I gotta say that I underestimated him. He is much stronger than I thought. But since he is part of the opposition, I figured the best thing was to send him to exile due to not only attempt at forcing the knights to be dysfunctional and paranoid, but we do not nee d Foxy to perform like that again. Exile Island would have weakened him. But what happens? The group chose to go with Shovel Knight... again..."_

He placed his stuff down as Shulk was having a discussion with Mega Man and Freddy about the tools that came with the kit as well as plans of what to do with them.

_"Now I have to make a decision for myself on how to approach my tribe without being seen as too confrontational or too arrogant and stuck-up. Otherwise, people will perceive me as a villain and I'm automatically next on the chopping block. Half the time you have to watch and rethink of every word that comes out of your mouth for this game in particular. However, I need to voice my opinion because I feel like they need to know the truth of what I think. Why Shovel Knight again over someone like Foxy?"_

"Alright, everyone. I do not know how you would all feel about this, but... I actually preferred to send Foxy over to Exile Island instead of Shovel Knight for a second time."

All side conversations came to a halt as Shadow was now the center of attention.

"_Please_ hear me out." He stated. "Okay, so I understand where all of you are coming from and everything, but let's face it. Foxy could potentially be a serious competitor as we've seen in the challenge. I was battling him with Pac-Man, and trust me. He is tougher than he looks. Sending Foxy to exile would have been a better option since not only he's a serious physical competitor, but that would have been three separate people from the Knights tribe that would have been sent to Exile Island, which will cause both short and long term paranoia. ..._Please_ do not take this the wrong way..."

"Okay, Shadow, I get where you're going with it." Shulk was the first to respond. "Believe me. Foxy honestly wouldn't have been a bad decision to make. If anything, a great idea like you said. However, what if we actually have the majority say for a swap or a merge? If there's a hidden immunity idol on Exile Island (maybe or maybe not), then we would all know that Shovel Knight would be the most likely person to have it."

"Okay, I get it. _But_," Shadow raised a finger. "if we don't have the numbers at merge time, Chatan will be dysfunctional and would want us to work with them in the merge to help them boot out one of their own, which we would then use as an opportunity to regain control once again."

"Alright, that would make sense." Roy was not completely against his idea. "However, say if your strategy would have played out, for all we know, they could see right through us and change their minds as they all work together throughout the end and could... for all we know get rid of someone like you or any one of us. I believe that it was best for us to send Shovel Knight to the island just to stay on the safe side."

"You know," Mega Man did not want any possible conflict to occur. "I think at the end of the day you're both right. Sometimes when it comes to decisions like this, they all have their cons and pros. It's just a matter of us coming to an agreement as a tribe and taking risks. If it was Foxy, then I would have been fine with it. Same with Shovel, as long as it makes sense as well as it make sense for the rest of you, then I don't see a problem as long as we know the risks we're taking for the future of all of our games."

"Okay..." Shadow's head was slightly lowered. "I guess I can see what you're saying. If it's Shovel Knight, then I guess it is what it is. If it's about keeping the tribe together if we overcome the knights, then I would not actually blame you. But perhaps we should think about it next time in advance say if we have to do it again."

_"Honestly, things could have been a whole lot worse in the discussion." The Mobian stated. "It was fine, but I feel as if it continues like this, then instead of a democracy, it would then turn into a dictatorship."_

"I think that right now is not a good opportunity to procrastinate. We need to start hammering stuff in to make our shelter strong than before, or worse case scenario, the whole thing crashes down on top of us in the middle of our sleep during a storm. It is not raining as of now, so we need to take advantage of that."

_"I do not think Shadow is necessarily an evil person." Roy grinned with a head shake. "But the thing is with Shadow is some might feel like he is sort of irritated whenever something does not go the way he prefers it to. I would not be surprised if he is used to everything working in his favor almost a hundred percent of the time. But out here, we are all twenty individuals fighting to get to the finals, playing in our own way. Sometimes not everyone is going to agree with what another might think, and I do not think that Shadow completely understands that."_

-/-

Later on in the day, Marth Lowell was seen wandering the beach, seemingly heading towards a large rock in the distance.

Shulk, Freddy, and Mega Man in particular were viewing him doing so from the shelter.

"And..." Mega Man blinked. "_My_ educated guess is that he's going to attempt to climb it somehow."

"I don't know..." Shulk sort of disagreed. "Marth doesn't seem that much of a climber. But then again, there's a first time for everything out here. He'd better not hurt himself or else we're gonna have a medical evacuation here."

"Perhaps I should follow him just so I can make sure he's safe." Freddy volunteered.

"Alright, then." Shulk stated. "...Speaking of Marth, do any of you think he has an idol?"

"Haven't seen him looking for it that much." replied Mega Man. "But that could only mean that he was looking for it behind his backs, unless the idol _is_ actually on Exile Island. Whether it's there or not, we all know that there's a good chance that he might have it or at least searching for it. Our question would be what are we going to do about it?"

Shulk placed a finger beneath his chin. "...I dunno... We could easily use it against the knights, but anyone having an idol at all means that they're gonna have a target on their back if people get suspicious about it..."

_"Marth has been to Exile Island twice now." Shulk recalled. "It's day ten in Survivor and Marth is doing a great job at not getting caught if he's looking for it. But whether he has or not, we know that he has the biggest chance of discovering the idol in the future. And naturally, the rest of us want an idol, too. Otherwise, if we let Marth go too far with the idol could make him very dangerous. So if we lose next challenge and if we decide both Shadow and Zelda are staying,... I think we might have to at least consider flushing the idol just so that the rest of us can stay on the safe side. This is exactly why I need to hurry up and try my best to find that idol before Marth does."_

Zelda was the one who decided to go after Marth as Shulk decided to go elsewhere in the direction of the water well, leaving Freddy and Mega Man behind.

Freddy in particular began to rub his head. "We have a lot going on here..."

_"The Emperors tribe is all over the place to say the least. Myself included." The bear began chuckling slightly. "I bet those knights over there are wondering what we are doing and how the heck are we playing the game. Everybody over here is wondering how they can take control of the game, and when you have ten people that all share that trait at one time, **we're** the ones that are likely to be dysfunctional over here because everyone is used to having things go the way they want. And so, literally every single person over here is playing their own individual game while the Knights tribe is probably all about team effort right now."_

* * *

**Exile Island**

**Day 10**

* * *

"Well, here I am again... All alone..."

Shovel Knight ignored the boat moving along as he slowly began making his way across the beach towards the shelter, eyeing all of his surroundings including a grab heading back to the ocean.

_"Living with one individual from the opposing tribe is one thing." He said. "Living on my own on a stranded island like this is another. Literally the only thing that could possibly relate to this is where I was back at home fighting for not only my life, but for my partner, Shield Knight, as well."_

He was now sitting down on the bamboo of the shelter eyeing the fire that he managed to start with nothing else to do to pass his time. Shovel for some reason never chose to even spent time on the beach.

_"All I have is me, myself, and I out here, which is giving me flashbacks to me sitting by a fire at night as I reflect on what significant events that occurred during the day as I think about what can I do to move forward in order to save my partner, before I all of a sudden fall asleep. Part of me actually feels as if I do not want to remember those days again, yet the other side of me is saying that it is best to reflect on the adventure that I had. ...Literally a bittersweet feeling to say the least. ...But,... I... I guess this whole experience is going to basically remind me of who I am as a person as it goes for everyone else that has come before me to be a part of this competition. Though I guess for me in particular, I suppose I was born ready to handle anything life throws at me as if it expects to overcome any obstacles in my path in order for me to accomplish whatever I am currently doing in any situation."_

He sighed, seemingly in the middle of recalling those memories, his right fist resting beneath his chin as he continued to stare at said fire.

_"Perhaps it was meant for me to spend some time on Exile Island, or else there would be no other way for me to recall all the experiences I had in life before coming out here..."_

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 10**

* * *

Back at the Chatan tribe, even though the knights knew that they lost the reward challenge, they could not have helped but discuss their own performance out there.

"Alright..." Bonnie was speaking fist as the entire yellow team was standing around. "Even though we lost, our efforts spoke for themselves. We did _really_ great out there, guys."

"We _really_ were." Greninja grinned as others began to laugh. "I mean, just... _wow_. Most aggressive challenge so far. Foxy was pulling on the ring like he was fighting for his life, and Shadow completely disregarded Pac-Man in the water. All the while I started to feel sorry for Pac-Man but I couldn't even help him because he wasn't even on my team, haha."

"Yeah..." Foxy had his arms folded rolling his eyes with a smirk. "I wanted to help score the winning point in that final round but Freddy had a strong hold on me. Sorta mad at him simply because he wouldn't let go, but knowing that he's bigger than me I knew I didn't have a chance."

"Well I guess the emperors know how to play as a team now, especially after they decided to get rid of Ghirahim last night." Greninja reminded.

_"Freddy was like a police officer trying to take me down as I watch the ring being taken away from me as if it was my child." Foxy chortled. "I couldn't do anything about it, and the emperors won in the end as if all of our efforts were in vain. "He knew that I was gonna sprint out and get to it before he did, so he made a good move, but I still can't help but be angry about it because we lost the reward because of that, but we all gotta admit that we still had a good time out there. Next time in a challenge like that I'll make sure I get my revenge on him anyway."_

"Hey Foxy," said Sheik. "what if instead of acting like it was your child being taken away, it could have also represented some buried treasure you could have been after."

The red fox blinked. "...Well if you put it that way... We are the _Knights _tribe so we're basically a crew, anyway. ...I should've been on Survivor - Pearl Islands."

Chatan shared a big laugh.

-/-

"What do you think Shovel Knight is doing?"

Sheik had some spare time on her hands to pace by the water with Greninja the Pokemon.

"Probably constantly wondering what we're all doing right now. I mean, the guy is by _himself _this time." Greninja said. "That's _scary_. I know if I was out there I wouldn't help but get paranoid. He has no idea what's going on here right now and he is still gonna go to the next Tribal Council and he hasn't even went before."

"Well, whether he's going or not, he's not here right now, and I've been on exile as well. So..."

He finally faced her. "...What are you saying? ...You're not saying you have an idol..."

"..._Well_," She chose to spill the beans. "to tell you the truth I don't exactly _have_ one. More like a clue to be specific."

He widened his eyes. "_Okay_! ...Can I see it?"

"You are lucky that I have my bag right now." Sheik giggled a little stopping in her tracks to place her bag down in the sand. "I'm sure I stuffed it near the bottom somewhere just in case they decided to search through it rather than dump it all out."

_"I've been sorta testing Greninja for the past several days." The ninja revealed. "I know we already have a connection going on here, but I figured that if I was going to tell someone important information such as me having a hidden immunity idol clue, then I at least need to feel a certain person out. And Greninja is the type of person who will always keep his friends close... **without** keeping his enemies closer I guess. So I knew that if I were to ever tell my possible number one ally, Greninja, about the clue I found on Exile Island, I doubt he would tell anyone."_

"Right now is the perfect chance for us to look for it since Shovel is not here." She told him. "We're already separated from the rest of the tribe, but we can't be out too long, because then we're gonna be targets. We have to play it smart."

"I agree."

_"We're not saying that we're planning on voting Shovel Knight out because we could very well need him in the future. But we should at least find the idol before he does in case Shovel Knight decides to keep it for himself, and **I'm** the one that people are gonna gun for sometime during the game."_

Sheik was now reading the clue. "'Not too far from the biggest tree is where you have to walk several feet in order for you to set the next clue free...'"

"Ugh..." Greninja was really hoping that only one clue was required for the idol to be discovered. "Multiple clues. Great."

"Well _techically_, this is the _second _clue to the idol. The first was on exile."

-/-

"So, yeah. Basically after that took place people were joking around and asking me if I would cut off my right hand and replace it with a pirate hook. But, I need these two hands to work with, you know?"

"Oh, I know what you mean." Rouge was next to Foxy in the shelter. "Otherwise if you were planning on getting a girlfriend anytime soon, she would need to see how both of your hands look, anyway. ...Though having a pirate hook for a hand it's not something that would not be attractive..."

He chortled at that. "You may have a point on that, but my hand is a part of my body. I can't eat stuff from a pirate hook unless I wanna slit my throat someday. ...Speaking of dating, people have been already spreading rumors that I'm dating one of my co-workers but we're more like siblings if you know what I mean."

Knuckles, who was standing just as safe enough of a distance from them shook his head at the sight.

_"First myself, then Greninja, now Foxy? Seriously? This bat just keeps going! I think she's trying to flirt with every guy on a tribe so that she'll cut us off one by one down the road later on when she doesn't need us to do her dirty work for her anymore. This is getting worse and worse. I said that if we were gonna lose, then I'm gonna make a move. ...And I'm **pretty sure** I didn't say that it only came to **immunity** challenges."_

And so, he decided to approach Luigi.

"Dude, Rouge is trying to flirt with all the men on here including myself. She's dangerous, just so you know."

"Oh..." Luigi blinked. "Okay..."

"Don't be afraid to tell everyone what I said... except Rouge of course." Before he could get another reaction from the plumber, Knuckles was already on his way back to the camp from the forest.

"..." Luigi scratched his head.

"Hi there, Luigi!" Bonnie suddenly appeared. "What'cha doin'?"

"Uh..." He nimbly took a glance around, causing Bonnie's grin to form to a more confounded expression.

"...Something bugging you?"

"Well,... you see," Luigi decided to get straight to the point. "Knuckles was just around here moments ago, and he just came to me and said that basically Rouge was trying to flirt with people and he probably wants her out..."

"..."

"And then he told me to go tell everybody..."

Next thing they knew, there came Sheik and Greninja through the forest, Sheik in particular quickly sneaking something in her bag.

"So what are you guys up to?" asked Greninja.

Bonnie pointed. "Luigi just told me that Knuckles was around here telling him to tell the entire tribe that he wants Rouge out..."

"..."

_"I might be on the bottom of the totem pole," said the echidna. "but if I'm gonna be at the bottom, instead of bringing someone to the bottom with me, I'm gonna push them out the way first just to save my own fur here. If I don't get Rouge outta here as fast as possible then my game is over..."_

* * *

**Emperors**

**Night 10**

* * *

It was one of the few nights where mother nature decided that now was rather not a good time to let the clouds rain down on the emperors' camp as the tribe currently was all fast asleep...

...except for one person in particular.

_"I was never actually planning to continue my search for the hidden immunity idol last night, but I am not kidding whatsoever when I say that I had a hard time sleeping."_

"'Not too far from the biggest tree is where you have to walk several feet in order for you to set the next clue free...'" Marth Lowell read the second hidden immunity idol clue as he wandered through his forest eyeing his every step.

_"Believe it or not, I was actually sort of hoping that I would never have had to search for the idol during the night hours because it would have been more difficult for me to see anything. However, since I was already awake, I knew that I had to take the chance, or else I am at a risk of getting caught searching for it during daylight."_

He ended up standing near the treemail as he was searching all around until he ended up noticing a rock that was larger than most of the others that were around. And naturally, he flipped it over, immediately widening his eyes upon seeing the text.

"Ooh, okay..." He began to read again. "'Find another stone that is not as light as day and upon a simple flip over, you have a chance to earn your stay...' Well I may not see that well so I guess I better squint my eyes a little..."

And so, he did while bending down to be as close to the rocks as possible, eventually finding a smaller stone that appeared to be a little more black than the rest of the rocks around him. As the clue stated, he flipped it over, and there was a small, miniature yari in the form of a stone with a red string.

"...Dear, _Nagi_..." Marth could not have believed it, not knowing exactly what to feel.

_"All I can say is sometimes when you are an emperor, you have to be three steps ahead. Or else, someone probably would already discover any significant details and clues before anyone else. Now I no longer have to worry about anyone finding the idol before I do."_

* * *

**Day 11**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

With the emperors leading the knights, the remaining contestants of the season all made their way to their respective mats, the tallest and biggest members of the groups setting down their tribe flags.

"We'll now bring in Shovel Knight, returning from Exile Island."

Immediately upon seeing him wave as he approached his fellow contestants, almost all of them clapped out of respect knowing what he had to endure.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?" Master Hand asked. "First things first, I'll take back the idol."

Krystal met the master halfway as she gave it to him before he placed it down once more.

"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge," He began to elaborate. "you're gonna race atop a floating bridge carrying a body board, where you will grab a bag, get in the water, and hang on as your tribe crank a wheel to help pull you back to shore. Once you collect all three bags, you will then use the numbered tiles inside to solve that combination lock that will release a key. You will then use that key to unlock a slide puzzle. First tribe to finish the puzzle, wins immunity and is safe from the vote. Losers, you know the drill. Tribal Council where someone will be the fourth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights."

"Before we start, Chatan, you have one extra member and you must sit somebody out. Rouge sat out of the reward challenge. Who's it gonna be?"

"Let Luigi do the slide puzzle." Krystal suggested to her tribemates. "He did it last time."

"You sure?" Greninja asked.

"Positive."

Krystal then raised her hand.

"Krystal is sitting out for the knights." Master Hand confirmed. "Take a spot on the sit out bench. The rest of you, I'll give you a minute to strategize, we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go." Master Hand raised a finger. "For immunity. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

Shadow from Nago and Knuckles from Chatan all raced across the sand to the floating bridge in the water, picking up their body boards in the process.

"Shadow and Knuckles both have to be careful getting across that first part of the floating bridge on the water, but so far they're both making progress with Shadow barely having the early lead..." Master Hand witnessed the action taking place.

"Come on, Shadow! You can do it!" shouted Pac-Man with hands over his mouth.

"Push through it, Knux! Push through it!" yelled Krystal from the bench.

The first part of the floating bridge were a bunch of wooden planks on the water, and Shadow and Knuckles were both able to cross successfully before they were able to step on their respective platforms and race the rest of the way until they made it over to the three bags that were tied up beneath a bar.

"Shadow and Knuckles working through their first set of knots..."

With quick fingers, Shadow had his undone first, now ready to make his way back after using the strap that came with a bag to hang it on his shoulder. Grabbing the body board, he splashed in the water.

"Pull him back!"

"Shulk, Freddy, Roy, and Pac-Man are all using the handles on that wheel to start pulling Shadow in..."

Thus, on the body board, Shadow the Hedgehog was now soaring through the water, holding onto the board as tight as he could.

"Go!"

Knuckles on the other hand was not that far behind as he was being pulled by Bonnie, Greninja, Foxy, and Rouge.

"Shadow now back! ...Knuckles now back! As soon as you make it all the way back to your tribe you can go!"

When both Mobians made it back to the starting point, Shulk and Greninja were the ones who decided to go next for their teams.

"Emperors still with an early lead but Greninja is slowly making up some ground across the bridge."

Shulk actually nearly lost his balance on those planks, yet he was lucky. Though it only caused Greninja to nearly take the lead over him, so it was just about neck and neck as they both made their way to the bags.

"Shulk has his undone! Greninja has his undone! ...Both in the water! Start pulling! We are _dead_ even!"

Both players zoomed across the water, Shulk even making a noise as Greninja chose to stick his head beneath the water.

"Shulk and Greninja seem to be making the most of it on that board."

They both were soon back, yet Greninja proved to be faster than Shulk as he was the first to make it back to his tribe.

"Go, knights! ...Go, emperors! It is now going to be Foxy and Roy going for their third and final bag!"

Chatan still had the advantage over Nago as Foxy made his way over the bridge quickly and carefully, him watching every step he took. He ended up meeting his bag about three seconds before Roy showed up as they both untied.

"Foxy's done! Get in the water!"

"Pull!" Rouge told her tribemates.

"Shulk's done! Get ready to reel him in!"

"Is he on there?"

"He is, let's pull now!" Shadow answered Pac-Man.

"Whoooo!" Roy grinned as he soared across.

"Don't slow down, now!" called Foxy.

"Foxy is now making his way back! ...Here comes Roy!"

Once Foxy was back, it was now time for Luigi, Shovel Knight, and Sheik to perform their part of the challenge. Each of them unloaded the number tiles hidden in the bags.

"Luigi you can sort the tiles out and I'll work on the combination lock." said Sheik.

"Emperors are good!"

For Nago, the rest of the challenge was up to Mega Man, Zelda, and Marth.

"Okay..." Luigi began calling numbers to Sheik. "Try **05-00-31** in that order!"

The ninja began scrolling through the numbers in order for her to get the combination Luigi called out to her.

Shovel Knight was eyeing the emperors. "Hmm... Something tells me that we might have to be a little quieter when it comes to them..."

Luigi scratched his head and stared as well. "Perhaps you're right..."

Indeed Shovel Knight was, because that was the exact combination Mega Man was aiming for as he scrolled through the numbers, Marth being the one who told him to follow Chatan's suggestion in the first place.

Unfortunately for both situations, Luigi's combination never worked.

"Chatan's wrong... Nago's wrong." Master Hand noted. "If it doesn't work, try another way."

Luigi then chose to read the numbers as if it was a date on the calendar. "Um..."

With a quick point, Shovel Knight dashed forward to observe the way Luigi arranged the numbers so that he could quietly relay them to Sheik. "**05-31-00**..."

"Alright..."

"**00-31-05**..." Marth quietly suggested to Mega Man as the humanoid robot began flipping numbers around again.

"...Chatan's good! Use that key to unlock the puzzle!"

"Mega Man, if that doesn't work, try reading as if it's a date on the calendar..." Zelda recommended.

Mega Man pulled on the lock, shook his head at the fact that it never budged, and begin working again. "Already on it..."

"...Emperors, you're good! We are nearly neck and neck once again."

"Okay, we need to work fast, guys..." said Mega Man as he unlock the slide puzzle, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Sheik already working.

Krystal crossed her fingers from the bench.

"Okay, so it is clearly 'Emperors vs Knights.'" said Sheik. "All we need to do is arrange these properly and we're good..."

Zelda and Marth were attempting at their best to work through the puzzle, yet Mega Man was the main one that was doing all the shifting. Slide puzzles were the types of puzzles Zelda was never that familiar with. She was not one of those who wasted her spare time on completing slide puzzles on her mobile phone for obvious reasons. Only Mega of the trio fell into that category.

Luigi literally only completed some slide puzzles on his phone just for the sake of preparing for his Survivor season, and neither Shovel Knight nor Sheik had the technology to use a mobile phone back in their own home lands, so they were even at more of a disadvantage than the emperors...

"...Master! Master!"

...Thus, it played a fact in the Nago tribe winning.

"Mega Man thinks they have it... and they do!"

"_**THE EMPERORS WIN IMMUNITY!**_"

Literally every single emperor from the tribe all cheered in celebration in their own way. Even Shadow the Hedgehog performed a single jump out of satisfaction, knowing that the numbers of both tribes were now set to be even, rather than Nago losing a third member from the tribe.

"...Hey, look..." Luigi pointed at the puzzle. "We were still a couple letters off..."

"It is what it is..." Sheik shook her head. "We're still going to tribal..."

Knuckles sighed out in frustration turning away with hands on his hips. Foxy covering part of his face with his right hand.

"It's okay, boys..." Rouge nodded at the both of them with reassurance with wrists against her sides, accepting their fate. "We still worked together very well today. We've been through one tribal, we can do it again."

-/-

"Nago, here you go. _Immunity_." Master Hand handed Mega Man the immunity idol. "No Tribal Council tonight, and you don't have to send anybody to exile, which means, _Shovel Knight_..."

He stared.

"You _will_ be going to Tribal Council." The hand wanted to make himself clear. "Emperors, you can head on out. Knights, I will see you all at tribal. Head back to camp."

_"Knuckles is talking behind Rouge's back that she is trying to use all of the guys only to her advantage, and now I won't be surprised if Rouge somehow finds out that Knuckles wants her out of the game." Luigi predicted. "But either way, I hope that one of them would get the boot, because having those two out there was what I wanted anyway just so that I'm safe tonight..."_

* * *

**So yeah, in the end, I ended up going with the challenge that first debuted in Survivor - Micronesia (Fans vs Favorites). I'm honestly surprised that the actual Survivor series never did this challenge that much. It just most recently happened in Ghost Island and I think it's really fun, especially when you get to basically surf across the water like some of the competitors did today!**

**Anyway, like I said, a lot has happened this chapter. Shovel Knight reflecting on Exile Island by comparing it to his adventure to save his partner, both teams reacting to their victory, or loss of the reward challenge, plus Shadow discussing about his disagreement to his tribe's plan to not send Foxy to the island, Sheik and Greninja beginning their search for the idol, Knuckles finally starting to plot against Rouge, Marth _finding _the hidden immunity idol, and the emperors winning once again sending Chatan to Tribal Council. And at the end of the day, the numbers will officially be even with eight members each. So it is still possible to root for literally anyone no matter what tribe they're on lol. Let's just get straight to the questions.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Now that someone has finally found a hidden immunity idol, would Marth tell anyone that he has it, or would he play an "Emperor" card here and keep it to himself?**

**2\. Since Shovel Knight _and_ Sheik are both coming back to camp, which of the two you think will retrieve the idol?**

**3\. Would Rouge catch wind of Knuckles' plan?**

**4\. What is Shadow's position in the Nago tribe at this point?**

**5\. Would Luigi still be talked about or at least for now, is he going to be ignored?**

**Vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you all next week!**


	13. Chapter 13: Day 11 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 13 - Day 11 Part 2

**Okay, week seven, fourth elimination, here we go. Time for another chapter here and today we're going to get rid of person number four, and this time it will be on the Knights tribe. The remaining knights are the following: Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Rouge, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Foxy.**

**And as for the tribe, aside from the typical reaction of their loss, the idol has still yet to be found, and at this point we're going to have Knuckles vs Rouge and Rouge doesn't even know that Knuckles is coming after him at this point even though anything could clearly change (but I doubt that Luigi is even an option to receive votes today). So basically, it might be Zelda vs Ghirahim all over again. Let's see how things will turn out _this_ time...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Knights**

**Day 11**

* * *

Chatan made their way back to the camp, with almost no one saying much initially as they each placed their stuff down in the shelter.

_"Well, even though we kept our spirits up, we lost the challenge today." Greninja held both his hands up. "I mean, when you're on a tribe, you want to have as many numbers as possible. This is the part that determines which tribe will dominate this game, but neither of the two tribes are at that point, yet.."_

"Alright, team..." said Krystal. "I might not have been competing today but I did see everything going on here. I just don't want anyone to feel down, because everybody out there played their part pretty well, and I guess you can't win everything. You win as a team, you lose as a team. All we can do is simply move on and then we'll... continue to survive basically, haha!"

"Thanks, Krystal." Greninja smirked laughing a bit. However, no matter how much a couple people attempted at making fun of it, there was the fact that they were all (including Shovel Knight) were set to return to Tribal Council.

And Bonnie Roberts knew it all too well as he walked by Foxy Michaels. "Numbers are gonna be even. It's official. We're at _war_..."

-/-

"I mean, clearly Luigi has no reason to go here. If anything I think it would be downright cruel to vote him off at this point. I can't even find a legitimate reason to send him packing." Sheik was walking with Greninja in the forest getting ready to collect water. "However, this just means that it's either going to be Knuckles or Rouge simply because they were at the wrong side of the vote, and we can't guarantee that we can trust them a hundred percent."

Upon both of them reaching the water well, Greninja placed his canteen on the edge and sighed. "...I really don't want a divided tribe..."

"Our best move is to obviously vote one of them out." Sheik restated. "Even if they say that they're with us, based on what happened last time, they might use it against us when we mix ourselves with the emperors and then they'll flip over, even though we're all bonding as much as we can over here..."

He sighed again, which was being accompanied by a head shake. "Hate to vote one of them out, but unfortunately we have to... I guess it comes down to who would be more trustworthy. Knuckles is already going after Rouge as we speak, and if Rouge somehow does not find out, somebody is going to get blindsided. ...But then again, Rouge is smart. She'll know if there's anything suspicious going on."

"I'd say it's more about who's more dangerous, and if Rouge is that intelligent, then it could be a reason to get rid of her." Sheik said as Krystal came by with her own canteen, watching Sheik pour water into Greninja's. "Then again, Knuckles is clearly gonna be a physical threat later down the road. No question."

_"The problem with having a divided tribe is that say if we enter a swap or a merge," Krystal explained. "the emperors will obviously know what's going on when the people on the bottom explain to them the events that are occurring over here. It is not impossible that the emperors will use it to their advantage and bring them in and use them against us in the long run, and then we're all going to be out of the game. So as tribe, it is our best interest to get rid of them, before they possibly get rid of us. And honestly, I like both Knuckles and Rouge in their own way, but for my game, it's still too early for me to care too much about my own individual game here. It's going to be either Knuckles or Rouge, and as long as Knuckles keeps targeting Rouge without having any second thoughts about it,... I said that makes the job way easier."_

"I'm not gonna say anything," The vixen said, watching Sheik pouring water into her canteen. "but we just need to make sure the rest of us come to an agreement on who we're gonna send home. One of us says something, and then this person will that person, and then that person will tell the next person, and that's how it's gonna be..."

"Sounds good to me..." Greninja shook his head again, still not pleased of what he might have had to do that night.

Once her canteen was filled, the female walked away, Greninja making sure she was out of the sight before he could continue his own conversation with Sheik. "Alright, so let's continue to find that idol..."

"Yeah..." She nodded remembering what she need to do, beginning to dig in her bag. "Where were we?"

-/-

Meanwhile, Rouge the Bat was wandering around the camp trying to see if there was anyone in particular she could talk to. Eventually with a few head turns she saw Knuckles heading down towards the beach.

"Hmm..." She placed a finger beneath her chin. "You know, I don't remember the last time I had a major conversation with Knuckles as of late..."

_"Recently, me and Knuckles haven't had that many conversations like we used to." She stated her observations. "It's almost as if he's trying to distance myself from me. And I know that it's not me being paranoid."_

"What's going on, Knuckie boy?" Rouge actually decided to follow him along. "We haven't spoke that much in a while."

"It's nothin'..." He responded without even taking a direct glance at her, already changing his mind to head back. "I was just worried about us losing the challenge today, and we have. I really wanted us to have an advantage over those emperors over there..."

This time Rouge actually remained in place as she eyed Knuckles with a wrist against her right side. By the time the nineteen year old was out of sight, she shook her head and sighed with a roll of her eyes. "What a good job at hiding important information to say the least..."

_"It's not that hard for me to figure how people behave around here, and me and Knuckles would usually share at least a couple convos with each other, mostly things that are not even that related to the game. But for the past couple days we didn't even have that. Now he hasn't even said a whole sentence to me today... All this is making me think that he could possibly know something he doesn't even want me to know about."_

By the time she made it back to the shelter, there was Shovel Knight who was getting ready to make his way past her.

"...Hey, Shovel,... come here..." She motioned him.

"..." With a quick second stare, he walked towards her as he was told. "Something the matter?"

"...You know what, Shovel Knight,..." she took a glance off to the side. "I really don't know. I tried talking with Knuckles for a bit and it seems like he's trying to avoid me or something. What do you think is going on with him?"

"Well,..." He had to think fast. "Maybe he's just upset that we lost?"

"I would say _that_ because that's what he told me. But I don't see the correlation here. If anything, based on the type of guy he is, he would probably be complaining heck of a lot more and vent out his frustrations in front of the entire tribe and go on a rant. But, nope. I just feel like he's trying to distance himself from me, like there's something going on that I don't know about. This isn't like him, Shovel..."

"..." He had to think even faster. "Maybe he just feels that it wouldn't be necessary for him to complain in front of us this time? That's the best answer I can come up with..."

"..." Rouge blinked. "I don't think Knuckles would hold back at all."

"Maybe you should try talking to him again..."

"Maybe..."

"I'll be back in just a few. If you find Knuckles, let me alone what he's telling you by the time I get back."

"..."

_"Shovel Knight clearly knows why Knuckles is acting like this, and I don't think it has anything to do with the challenge. Both of them know exactly what's going on here that for some reason I am not apart of." Rouge concluded. "...But then I thought, '...Wait a minute... Could I be a target?'"_

She was now speaking with Krystal at some other part of the woods, Krystal apparently heading back towards the shelter. "Girl... I think I could be getting some votes tonight..."

"Oh, you think so?"

"Knuckles and Shovel Knight are acting like their usual selves, especially Knuckles." She enlightened. "I could barely get him to talk to me and judging by Shovel Knights answers of his own thoughts on the matter, I feel that he knows something that I don't. ...Have you heard anything?"

"Well if you think you're in trouble, then I guess all you gotta do is strike first before the other person." The vixen suggested. "As far as me and Knuckles are concerned, I haven't talked to him yet today, but I plan to. Maybe just to see where his head is at and then I'll come back to you. But if you honestly think you're in trouble, then I'm right here."

_"I don't even know what to make of Krystal's answer. I ask if she's heard anything and she won't even give me a straightforward answer, but then she tells me that she's with me, but for all I know, she could be saying that just to make me feel comfortable. Yep. It's official." Rouge nodded her head in complete understanding of what was happening around her. "I think I'm getting some votes. I don't know why, but I think I'm getting some. And people won't spill, so I guess at this point, I just have to tell everyone why I can be useful in the future, and then I'll talk at Tribal Council."_

-/-

"So, what do you think? Knux or Rouge?"

"Well honestly, both of them are just as threatening in comparison in their own way. We could use Knuckles if one of us will be with him after a tribe swap for challenges, but then again, we need somebody smart like Rouge in cast we need to plot something against one of the emperors." Bonnie suggested to Foxy as they both were walking along one of the pathways on the beach. "And then if you turn it around, those the exact reasons to why both of them would be threatening."

"Who do you trust the most?"

"..." Bonnie was silent initially. "I'm tryin' to figure that out... There hasn't been an official word of which of the two's getting the boot yet tonight, has it?"

"Not that I know of." Foxy responded. "But this leads me to what I wanted to bring up for quite a while now. Greninja and Sheik are probably just as close as we are. You noticed that, right?"

"I've been noticed that..." Bonnie admitted. "Shovel Knight is probably having more conversations with them than the two of us. Maybe it's something we could think about later on?"

"Oh, _clearly_ we're gonna think about it later on." Foxy could not have agreed with him more. "But if we're not voting any of 'em out right now, we should at least have a say in which of the two will earn their stay for the next couple days. We should convince the rest of the tribe to vote who _we _think should be going home tonight."

_"Shovel Knight, Sheik, and Greninja, specifically Greninja and Sheik are obviously a duo on this tribe just as me and Bonnie are, but I think me and Bonnie as a duo are less noticeable than those two. Shovel Knight is probably being used as a shield for both of them, I guess. But the bottom line is, is now a good time to get rid of them?" Foxy slowly shook. "**Heck** no. Believe it or not, they're actually right of having a team divided it's not the best idea for us and if we suddenly blindside them now, we'll basically be the next couple players that played too hard, too early. Timing is everything."_

"Trust me on this." Foxy stopped in his track to look at Bonnie directly in his eyes. "I'm good with Knuckles. We both have been talking for a bit and I think if we're gonna keep him over Rouge, then we can bring him in for _our_ advantage in the future."

"Ya think so?"

"I honestly think that we can bring in him in."

_"I'd prefer to have Rouge go over Knux, but only because so that we can use Knuckles to our own benefit in the future. Just so that when we're **ready** to blindside someone from those three, then we would have one more person we can count on. And not only that I've been talking to Knuckles a bit more, I think I can trust him way more than I can trust someone like Rouge. Otherwise, than I feel that they're all setting themselves up **too** nicely. If they're gonna dictate how the vote's gonna go, I wanna get **something** out of it."_

-/-

"'Find another stone that is not as light as day and upon a simple flip over, you have a chance to earn your stay...'"

Greninja, after watching Sheik read the final idol clue, took a glance back at the rocks below and ended up finding a dark colored rock in comparison to the other ones around it that were lighter.

"I guess this is it..."

Sheik walked towards the rock to flip it over so she could check what was underneath of it.

"..."

"...?" Greninja raised an invisible eyebrow.

"...There is nothing there..."

Now Greninja widened his eyes. "...What? What do you mean?"

"There's nothing there..." She shook her head.

"But... I..." The Pokemon was in disbelief. "But, how could that be? I'm sure we were looking in all the right places. We followed all the instructions and everything. So I'm sure that the idol would be where you flipped the rock at... _Unless_..."

"..._Shovel Knight_..." Sheik concluded, flipping the rock back over. "This means that Shovel Knight has it. He's received the exact amount of clues that I did..."

"..." Greninja let silence take over him for a few moments. "Well, at least not only we know who has it, but we're close to him, anyway..."

"Let's just leave. Put that other rock back where it belongs..."

_"It's a good thing that I'm an explorer! It really works to my advantage!" Shovel Knight wrapped around Chatan's hidden immunity idol around his neck. "I don't think I need it right now, so I'm going to save it for later in case I feel like I'm in trouble."_

-/-

By the time the clouds came out, the sun was already starting to set as Knuckles lied down in the shelter.

In spite of Foxy approaching him, Knuckles was actually the one who started the conversation upon hearing his footsteps. "Hey..."

"'Sup..."

"...Is she still going?"

"Well,... hate to break it to you, buddy..." Foxy folded his arms. "But apparently Rouge came up to Bonnie and told her that she think she's a target and she would like to find out why..."

Knuckles cursed under his breath. "Well,... looks like we're gonna have a live tribal tonight... 'cause I'm not just gonna sit there and pretend she's not going home since she already knows. I just... ugh... I just don't wanna go home. That's all I gotta say..."

"_Look_..." Foxy changed his tone of voice. "...Okay, I generally like you. Alright? I think at this point we both need each other. I got Bonnie with me already. When we get through this tribal, we're all gonna work together. Greninja and Sheik might be running the show right now, but once we get Rouge out of the way, most likely we're gonna have a tribe swap. If the three of us make it to the merge, we're gonna stay solid. I have a million more reasons on why I'd like to keep you over Rouge."

"Well, you sure are doing a good job making me feel at least a little less on edge here, especially after knowing that Rouge was actually smart enough to figure out what's going on."

"Trust me, though." said Foxy. "All we gotta do is to convince the rest of the tribe to keep you in over Rouge, and then you will be with me and Bonnie, and whoever else we can trust in the future. You have to stay here. Okay?"

"Alright..." The Master Emerald guardian at that point did not know exactly what to say.

Finally, the group was seen picking up their torches and beginning their second journey to the Tribal Council.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 11**

* * *

With torches in hand, the Knights tribe minus Shovel Knight all entered the Tribal Council area, placing down their torches in their holes as they all sat down in their spots, facing Master Hand immediately.

"Shovel Knight, you have finally made it to Tribal Council." He said. "Behind you is a torch, go ahead and grab it, dip it in, and get fire."

The rest of Chatan watched him do what was ordered, the only legitimate knight of the yellow team making their way by them to dip his torch in the fire pit.

"This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council where in this game, fire represents your life. When your fire is gone, so are you..."

He sat down in the remaining spot once he finished the procedure.

"So, Shovel Knight, this is your very Tribal Council." Master Hand noted. "Thoughts?"

"Well, like anyone else, I naturally hate the feeling that we are forced to sacrifice one of our own in order for the rest of the team to move forward." He expressed. "Because that person deserves to be here, just as everyone else deserves to be here."

"For you, to be fair, _you_ were the only one from this tribe that was safe from the last Tribal Council because you were on Exile Island." The host of SurAnvivor brought up. "And your tribemates explained that the idol itself could be on exile, or it could be hidden at your camp."

"I suppose you are indeed correct about that possibility." Shovel Knight nodded in agreement as Sheik took a quick glance at Greninja who was staring directly at the shovel wielder. "They are smart players. Some of them have seen season past where normally the idol would be on exile, but it has been almost forty seasons at this point. Thus, time have simply changed. Yet whether that is the case or not, um,... _hopefully_ they would all still keep me around, even though worst case scenario, this could be both my first _and_ last Tribal Council."

"Sheik," He called the ninja. "you have also been on exile. Anyone confronted you on the possibility that you might have it?"

"Well of course someone had to bring up. And overall, it was the usual general questions based on the life on Exile Island as well as the possibility of me having it. All I can say is that even if I do have it and if I decide to tell anyone, than there would be a possibility of that person gaining trust."

"And then again, it could pretty much work against you depending on how many people that know."

She agreed. "Double-edged sword, to say the least."

"Let's get back to what's going on right now. The emperors celebrated of course since they won today's challenge, and after tonight, each team will have eight members each. No tribe will have the overall numbers after I snuff the next torch." He reminded. "Luigi, predict the future. Do you think the knights will eventually have the upper hand? Most of the time as of late when we have twenty people playing a season, the merge is at thirteen. So if it's the same this season, will you guys be the ones that will have the majority?"

"I think that in my opinion that will depend on relationships in the past, present, and future." answered the Mario brother. "That's what this game is all about. Whether how people will feel about you in the long run will really put that connection, as well as the entire tribe to the test. Sometimes it's not about tribal lines when it comes to the merge. I have seen plenty of the recent seasons. But so far, there are not many cracks that I can point out, especially since the tribe as a whole wants to continue to be together as one."

"Is this tribe _still_ unified, even though two people other than Cloud were left out of the vote?"

"...Well, I guess the tribe's plan was to make sure that we all clear the air for them and we patch things up and move forward, even though we're all in front of you again."

"Knuckles, you were one of the two people that were left out of the Cloud blindside." Master Hand recalled. "How do you think you feel with your tribe at the moment?"

Rouge glanced directly at him.

"My overall vibe with the tribe hasn't changed even though there was a plan that was taken place that I was not a part of. They chose to get rid of our strongest competitor, and I don't even blame them because I would have one hundred percent disagreed, anyway. But since tribe harmony is without a doubt still the absolute number one priority when it comes to Chatan then we all need to vote the same exact person we consider to be the most dangerous out of all of us..."

"...Oh?" Rouge intentionally placed a hand on her chest leaning back just for the sake of exaggeration. "Really? Am _I _perhaps getting a torch snuff tonight?"

"Yep. You could be going home."

Literally every single person of the Tribal Council all stared at Knuckles, Rouge widening her eyes in reaction.

"I was gonna try and play it out as it is what people do when you wanna blindside someone," Knuckles never even looked at Rouge yet. "but since she already knows she could be the one that me getting the votes tonight, there's clearly no point in hiding it anymore. That being said, it's best to hear the truth. Rouge has been trying to flirt with all the guys on here and until she proves that she stops doing so every five seconds, we might take into consideration that maybe we should keep her around for a couple days."

"But we're already at Tribal Council and you seemed willing enough to work with me, Knuckles..."

"That was back then on day two or something." He waved it off. "This is night eleven now, and a lot can happen within a week. One minute you trust someone with your life, next minute you don't trust someone as far as you can throw 'em. That's my relationship with Rouge right now."

"_Really_, Knuckles?" Rouge shook her head. "Why would you just change your mind like that, Knuckles?"

"...Because of the way you've been acting!" He finally faced her. "You've flirted with _three _people, now. Oh, and by the way, other than two seconds ago, that was the first time you've called me by your real name. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's something else..."

"Literally the rest of the tribe calls you 'Knux' by short..."

"But not one of them calls me '_Knuckie_'..." Knuckles retaliated. "They say it's not what you say, it's how you say it, but in this case it's both. You call me Knuckie with a tone that speaks to me that you're trying to get something going on so that you can pull me in only to backstab me late in the game. But, don't worry. You're not gonna get away with it for that much longer..."

"...Alright!" Master Hand said. "It looks like I need a little catching up, here! Knuckles, you basically think that Rouge is trying to play the flirt card on people?"

He bobbed his head up and down.

"And why do you think that?"

He shrugged. "Worse case scenario, she probably wants a relationship with one of us in real life."

"She wants a relationship with one of you in real life?"

"Master Hand, that is a thousand percent not true. I'm not trying to start a relationship with one of the guys here, nor am I even trying to be flirtatious here on purpose." The spy agent defended herself. "It's just always been part of my personality. When you do brain-brawn-beauty seasons, that's literally what certain people of the beauty tribe act like. Charming personalities, good looks, everything."

"Last time I checked this is not one of those seasons..."

"Just because this is not of those seasons doesn't mean anything, Knuckles." Rouge replied. "If I choose to have a little fun with the guys, then that's how I socialize with people."

"Well even if you _aren't_, which you are, then that makes you a social threat, anyway."

"It's _that_ threatening to you, huh?"

"But Rouge, whether you think Knuckles is right or not overall, sometimes a charming personality does label you a threat."

"And I agree. Then in that case since at this point Knuckles is _clearly_ the reason why I'm apparently in trouble other than being out of the vote last tribal, Knuckles, even though we all know he's good at challenges and everything, you know what's gonna happen when we get to the merge. Should I spell out the word?"

"Though in _my_ defense, master," The last of his kind spoke again. "if, or at this point, _when_ we swap, a tribe that could be almost exclusively be filled with knights for all we know, could in fact use my strength to win challenges so we can all be safe if it's still Emperors vs Knights this season."

"...Well in that case, then I could be use to gather intel from all the emperors to see exactly how they are playing." Rouge jumped onto Knuckles's own logic.

"Okay, then it sounds like both of you could be just as threatening in your own way." Master Hand noticed the rabbit of the group. "Bonnie, you are smiling like it's no tomorrow."

He began to laugh. "I should've brought my popcorn here today. Even though I feel bad that we have no choice but to vote one of them out, this is pure entertainment right here. Times like these I'm right in front of my television watching tribals like this. But this time, since I get to be a part of it, maybe it's time to give a shout out to all my friends and family watching back home. _This_ is what's happening right now."

A few other laughs were made from the tribe, both Knuckles and Rouge even smiling as a result.

"Alright, so if it does so happen to be Knuckles vs Rouge, we have _presumably_, the physical competitor versus the social butterfly, Both are as equally threatening as the other for a variety of different reasons depending on the circumstances. Krystal, how are the rest of you are going to vote?"

"Well, since both of them are both the correct answer in this situation," the vixen talked. "we just got to do what's best for us as a tribe so that we can move on and work with whoever we'll end up once we all head back to camp and continue to live together."

"Foxy, you agree with that?"

"Yeah, that whole 'living together' things sums it up." The red fox nodded. "That's what happened last time after those two were left out of the vote in the first place. We're all being one big happy family and sometimes some of us do things others might not want,... but we're still a family. Though this time, it seems that the seven of us are deciding which family member is um... the _favorite_ to keep around for the benefit of the whole family."

"...Key word: _favorite_." Master Hand repeated.

"Hey, I'm all against families having favorites, here." Foxy had his hands out chortling a bit. "But unfortunately when you are playing a game like Survivor, sacrificial lambs do occur once in a while. I wish I can bring back both of them, but typical brother and sister can't seem to get along and we were already watching the both of them anyway."

"With that being said, Knuckles, if it's you tonight, what will be your final pitch to this tribe if you wanna stay?"

"Well, if you want me to help you win challenges, then..." He unfolded his hands in his lap as he stared at the rest of the Chatan members. "I'm here. I mean, I'm a fighter and I will fight for each and every one of you here. No offense, but we already got rid of Cloud. If a tribe swap is somehow _not _happening after tonight, then I'd rather not send _two_ strong people packing and us coming here twice in a row while the emperors laugh at us..."

"Rouge, same question. What's your final pitch?"

"My final pitch would be all about trustworthiness. I can guarantee that if you all need that one extra person you can count on come a merge or a swap, I'm the one you can rely on if we are planning on getting rid of those emperors in case they are all plotting something that can blow up in our faces. And in order to avoid that, I will make sure we're all still united as a tribe even if I'm not the most physical on this team."

"Then again, that could make you a threat..."

"Oh, _game on_, _Knuckie_." Rouge told Knuckles in which he rolled his eyes in response.

Greninja slowly shook his head.

"Alright, it is time to vote. Greninja, you're up."

With a sigh, he stood up and walked off to the Tribal Council voting booth.

Knuckles was the one who voted after him.

"Like the master said..."

He flipped his vote to reveal 'Ruge' without the extra vowel needed.

"The tribe has spoken..."

With actually smirked with a blink as it was soon Bonnie, Luigi, and Foxy's turn to place their votes in the urn, the red anthropomorphic animal taking his time spelling out the name.

Once Sheik and Krystal placed in their votes, Rouge ended up being second to last.

"By the way, since you don't like being called that..."

She flipped her vote over with Knuckles' name being edited to the way she wanted it to be shown.

"I'm calling you that anyway just because."

After Shovel Knight had his turn, Master Hand was ready.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Knuckles hung his head down as Rouge crossed her right leg over her left with a fist beneath her chin, her head bending over as well.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

Though Sheik wanted to eye Shovel Knight, not one person from the tribe exchanged a glance.

"Okay." The reading of the votes was now set to begin. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

He uncapped the urn.

"First vote... Rouge."

She slowly shifted to Knuckles realizing he spelled her name incorrectly just as he did with Luigi's name.

"...Knuckles."

He formed the weirdest facial expression as Rouge almost snickered.

Foxy had his arms folded and Krystal tilted her head.

"...Rouge. Two votes Rouge, one vote Knuckles."

"..."

"...Rouge."

She sighed and slowly shook her head, Greninja giving her some sort of look of sympathy, Bonnie curling his lips.

"Rouge. Four votes Rouge, one vote Knuckles."

The echidna had his eyes widened slightly.

"Fourth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Rouge. That's five, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

"Guess my time's up..." Rouge got up from her seat and went to retrieve her torch.

"It sure is..." Knuckles mouthed crossing his ankles.

Everyone watched the bat placed down her torch.

"Rouge, the tribe has spoken..."

"Yep..." She nodded as she watched her torch being put out.

"Time for you to go."

Before she could leave, she turned around and faced her tribe for one last time with a big wave. "Take care of yourselves, and each other."

"Bye, Rouge."

"Take care, girl."

"We'll miss you."

She blew a kiss at Knuckles with completely caught him off guard as she made her way down the steps as a few of his teammates were trying at their best to hold back laughs.

"Well, it seems like someone was an emperor in this situation that has won the battle against his opponent." Master Hand added the finishing words to put the Tribal Council discussion to a close. "But at the end of the day, a knight has fallen. You guys seem to be hoping for a tribe swap, let's see what happens next. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight..."

Knuckles could not have been any happier as he and the rest of Chatan got up from their places and begin to make their way back to camp once the torches were grabbed.

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Luigi**** \- Rouge**

**Sheik**** \- Rouge**

**Greninja**** \- Rouge**

**Krystal**** \- Rouge**

**Knuckles**** \- Rouge**

**Rouge**** \- Knuckles**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Rouge**

**Bonnie**** \- Rouge**

**Foxy**** \- Rouge**

_**17th Place: **_**Rouge**

* * *

_"I guess I did alright out here even though I only lasted eleven days. Maybe if I would have not given a hundred percent of myself out there, especially to the guys, perhaps it would have increased my chances of my torch still being lit. But I gotta hand it to them. I guess if they saw me as a potential social threat that should be considered of getting the votes, then good move on their part. I'm rooting of them all... especially for **you**, Knuckles, hahaha! There, I said your name right this time."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Shulk, Freddy / Luigi, Shiek, Greninja, Krystal, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

* * *

**I wouldn't be surprised if Knuckles and Rouge _somehow_ end up being good friends outside of Survivor after the season has finished "airing" lol. But other than Shovel Knight finding the idol, that's pretty much all I can say... Wait, Shovel Knight _found_ the idol, and Sheik and Greninja both know that he has it. Though I guess for this move in particular, I would say that it was generally the whole tribe's decision to target Rouge over Knuckles, I would also say that it was Foxy who manged to make sure that he convinces the rest of the tribe to keep Knuckles in over her since he feels that he could be a number he can use in the future with Bonnie.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Would you have preferred to see Knuckles go over Rouge? Why or why not?**

**2\. Do you see a tribe swap happening soon, or will the castaways have to wait even longer?**

**3\. Are Sheik and Greninja going to tell Shovel Knight that they know he has an idol? If they are, when exactly do you think it'll happen**

**Watch my YouTube intro and vote on your top five players of the season if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	14. Chapter 14: Day 12 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 14 - Day 12 Part 1

**Alright, four eliminations down, thirteen more eliminations ago. But, don't worry! Every elimination chapter is always fun considering on the events that occur before it!**

**So now that Rouge is gone, Nago/Emperors have eight and Chatan/Knights have eight, so everything is even once again. Zelda, Mega Man, Peach, Roy, Pac-Man, Marth, Shadow, Freddy, Sheik, Foxy, Krystal, Knuckles, Bonnie, Luigi, Shovel Knight, and Greninja are all still in the game. If your favorite is one of these players, congratulations. They all have moved up four notches at a chance of them being a millionaire and being the Sole Survivor, or at least being in the final three on Day 39. That's always a plus.**

**So, where do the tribes go from here?**

**~KF**

* * *

**Knights**

**Night 11**

* * *

The remaining eight members of the Chatan tribe made it back to their shelter, laying down their torches against the same tree as before.

"Guys?" Knuckles spoke causing him to be the center of attention. "I just wanna say thanks. I... I just can't thank you all enough for keeping me here."

"Aw, you're fine, Knuckles." Krystal chuckled a bit. "We're glad you're here."

_Knuckles heaved a sigh of relief. "I got my way. Clearly even though I wanted Rouge to go, it was between me and her tonight and it was gonna be a unanimous vote. I thought that if my name came up twice, then most likely I was going. But the third vote for Rouge meant everything. Maybe they all took the time to think about what I had to offer not only to myself, but for the rest of the knights here. And to avoid being targeted again if there's no tribe swap soon, I will do everything in my power to help this tribe win more challenges so that we can have the upper hand in this game."_

Aside from the anthropomorphic echidna, Sheik turned her head to Shovel Knight interacting with a couple of the other tribe members.

_"So we decided to keep Knuckles around over Rouge because as a group we all thought that Knuckles would be less likely to hurt us in the long run than Rouge..." Sheik sighed. "Sure, I doubt he is going to be the best **social** player of the two, but I feel that being in the social threat in the long run, especially in the merge where the physical threats are going to be the one targeted over the other type of players, Rouge would be the most threatening to keep around if we prove successful in the end, since social threats almost always become dangerous late game, and Rouge would be too much of a threat to beat in the end."_

_"Aside from that, earlier today me and Greninja followed every single clue, and when we flipped that rock over, that was where the idol was supposed to be, and it wasn't there. And guess who was the only other person in the tribe that has gone to Exile Island so far?"_

And so, she and the frog-like Pokemon decided that it was good opportunity to talk with Shovel Knight.

"...Okay, this might be a little abrupt, but..." She started. "we know you have the idol..."

The man who had just attended his very first Tribal Council simply blinked. "...?"

"..." Greninja blinked as well. "That pause is only making us confirm that you have it. Me and Sheik were looking for the idol ourselves this afternoon and when we flipped over a black rock, there was nothing there, and it was where the idol was supposed to be."

"We just wanted to make sure that you have it just so that we're not just assuming things and jumping to conclusions." Sheik explained.

At that point, Shovel Knight had no idea how to react at all.

_"...Well, I got caught red-handed... Maybe I should have took some type creating a fake one..."_

Fortunately, Shovel Knight never sat down his bag, so he was able to find the idol and show it to Sheik and Greninja.

"Hmm..." Greninja was eyeing what the idol looked like. "Interesting..."

"I... I managed to sneak my way by the treemail after I was talking to Rouge..."

"Well, don't apologize or anything." Sheik waved her hands out in front of her. "If anything we're lucky that you of all people found it, because this would only bring us closer, anyway. We're not gonna talk about it to each other anymore, though, unless we're in a situation where we have to."

_"What can I say?" She said. "I guess you can't always win. Shovel Knight won. I should have looked harder and quick enough, but he found it. But now since he has found it, the only way he would play actually play it on me at this point is if I bond with him more, which hopefully wouldn't be too hard, since me and Greninja wanted to work with him, anyway."_

* * *

**Emperors**

**Day 12**

* * *

"Well, eleven days down, only twenty-eight more to go..."

Shulk was witnessing the sun starting to rise after the night of the fourth Tribal Council of the season with his chin resting on his arms that were holding his legs together as he sat near the shelter.

Pac-Man was the next to arise, but pretty soon, the rest of the emperors woke up out of their sleep.

"I already got the fire started by the way..."

Roy stretched. "I'm gonna get more firewood..."

"I'll help..." Zelda volunteered as they both got up as well as Marth, heading off to the woods to gather up.

"...Hey, guys?" Shulk spoke again, trying to not look directly into the sun due to him wanting to keep his eyes. "...Am I playing too hard, here?"

That earned the attention from literally everyone else that remained at the shelter.

_"Since I consider myself to be a 'superfan' of Survivor, I've watched just enough seasons so I could start practicing making fires, building shelter, and working around camp with all types of people with my friends from back home. I was determined to be out here and immediately applied when I found out that they finally let people from other universes play this game. And I wanted to make sure I knew how to do everything I could do before I was finally on my way to Japan. However,... I do gotta admit. Some of the other self-proclaimed superfans out there can crash and burn. I seen them fall short in their own way, and I... and I don't wanna fall into that category. I guess I was thinking of how many more days I could last out here before I could be suddenly blindsided, but it led me to ask the tribe if I was basically doing something wrong. People were always asking me questions about camp life, so I guess it's my turn to ask them a question..."_

"What do you mean you're playing too hard here?" asked Mega Man. "I think you're doing perfectly fine..."

"Thanks, but..." He remained silent for a moment. "I've seen some seasons where Master Hand lets people pick 'leaders' of the tribe, and sometimes whoever fitted that role adapted to it a little too well. It made them a threat and caused them to get eliminated. ...I mean, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I think I'm doing a good job around camp... Maybe a little _too_ great..."

Freddy blinked as he continued to listen.

"I don't wanna be the guy that is taking complete control of the camp to the point to where people think that I'm this guy who's amazing at camp and now I'm a threat to leave because of me leading the tribe..."

"Awww..." Pac-Man actually got up from the bamboo, sat by Shulk and placed a hand on his shoulder. "But you're a great leader."

"But, that's the thing." He never looked at him. "When your tribe thinks you're a leader, sometimes it's not good because one person can say that he's taken control of the entire tribe and then everyone wants me out... But, I guess if you guys think that I'm just generally a good leader for the tribe, then thanks, anyways..."

"Don't worry. I guess we're all emperors here for a reason." Mega Man commented with a smirk. "You're good."

_"I really felt for Shulk there and understood where he's coming from. Maybe not everyone here has seen most of the seasons, but I have. I know exactly what he's thinking. And the funny thing is that I'm an emperor myself and I feel that I play a similar role to Shulk in real life, so that's something I have in common... Honestly, I think I'm finally **really** starting to understand why I'm considered an emperor, now. Even though there are ten different personalities here, where all used to gaining control. But as much control we all might have no matter where you're from, Shulk for example might be thinking that the rest of him view him as this person who is just **too** strong. And we all wanted him to know that we think he's generally a good person to lead the tribe and he's perfect for guiding everyone how to do certain things at camp."_

"Thanks, guys..." Though Shulk scratched his head, it was basically used as a cover up so that he can swiftly wipe away a tear from his right eyes. "I really appreciate it... Honestly if I was being gunned for I want to at least make the merge."

A couple of his fellow Nago members chuckled a bit.

"You know what, I don't blame you one bit. I know how you feel" Freddy said. "You continue doing what you're doing."

_"It's exactly reminding me of what I talked to Zelda about yesterday. But in Shulk's case, unlike me being afraid of people seeing me as a potential bossy type of guy since I am a boss in real life, Shulk is basically being afraid of having authority at all. More specifically in this case he's hesitant about being the unofficial leader type of thing, and I understand that. When you have ten people on one tribe with most of them not having the outdoor experience, **somebody** has to step up, and Shulk found in his heart to do that because he wants this tribe heading in the right direction even though we're all emperors with ten different personalities. He's so young. And for that, I can say that I am proud of him for taking that position in our camp."_

* * *

**Day 12**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

Unlike the previous reward challenge, Chatan was the tribe that entered the beach area first, the sun now being high in the sky on Kodai Island as Knuckles sat down the tribe flag once again.

"Knights, get your first look at the new Nago tribe."

And the emperors came in.

"Rouge voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Hmm... Pretty understandable, I suppose..." Shulk commented as Shadow for some reason looked somewhat disappointed. But other than that, there were literally no big reactions.

"Okay, everybody... _Drop your buffs_."

Almost instantly, the remaining sixteen contestants knew what was coming, most of them already being full of excitement as they literally dropped their buffs to the ground while a few of them seemed slightly anxious.

"Oh!" Shovel Knight took his buff off from his neck. "A tribe switch up?"

"We are _switching tribes_." Master Hand confirmed.

Shulk with a sigh was the last to drop his buff on the ground, even being one of the few that were actually a bit hesitant.

"Alright, everybody." Master Hand was now holding a basket floating his way over to the castaways. "Here's the thing. It's day twelve on Survivor and now we are switching tribes. Spoiler alert: we will be going from _two_ tribes, to _three_ tribes."

A few claps and cheers were heard.

"_However_," He said. "the thing is that this just means that each tribe will have five people, fifteen in total. There are _sixteen_ of you. Which _means_... _one_ of you will not have a tribe. That person must go to _Exile Island_."

...

"Oh, _god_ no..." Freddy mumbled his breath with hands on his hips.

"...Not again..." said Shovel Knight with a shake of his head in disbelief.

"Please don't let it be me..." Krystal muttered to herself.

"Everybody, take one, don't unravel and reveal just yet until I tell you to." Master Hand began making his way around the contestants as they each drew a piece of cloth from the basket until Luigi was basically the last in line.

"I guess fate chose me for this season..."

"Alright." The master saw that everyone was ready. "Everybody, _reveal_."

They all either slowly, or quickly, unfolded their piece of cloth to reveal the both that they drew from the pile.

"..." Roy hung his head back a bit in surprise. "...I'm _orange_?"

"...Looks like I'm moving..." Knuckles blinked as he dropped a cloth with a red buff in hand. "Least it's the same color as my fur so I'm not too mad about it..."

"Staying on Chatan..." Greninja muttered to himself staring at his second yellow buff in a row.

"..." Unfortunately for Marth Lowell, all that time spent on unfolding his piece of cloth and all that came out of it was literally nothing.

A few of the emperors stared in reaction.

"If you are red, come to the red mat. If you are yellow, come to the yellow mat. If you are _orange_, come to the middle. Marth, you can stand right in front of them." Marth told everyone.

"Okay..."

"Greetings, fello!" Shovel Knight greeted as he shook hands with Freddy.

"Who are you?" Krystal asked, stepping onto the red mat.

"I'm _Shadow_. Shadow the Hedgehog." He folded his arms in response.

"Nice..."

_"The moment I found out that I was not going to be part of any tribe whatsoever was not only frustrating, but I knew that I was going to have the feeling of being isolated and on my lonesome once again." Marth said. "It is as if you are shunned to the side not wanting you to be a part of something. I can not even find out what is going on with the other tribes, or... anything. And the worst part is the fact that I have already visited Exile Island not once, **twice**. And I just so happened to be picked of all people..."_

"Alright." Everybody was swapped now. "Let's get to the tribes. For Nago, we have Shadow, Krystal, Mega Man, Knuckles, and Shulk. So this means that Krystal and Knuckles, you two seem to be in a bad spot. 3-2."

Krystal sighed and decided to verbally reply. "Well Master, it may appear that way, but we seen seasons past. Everything simply may not always be as it seems."

"Okay, for Chatan, we have Greninja, Bonnie, Pac-Man, Sheik, and Zelda. Pac-Man, Zelda, you two are _also_ on the outs on the opposing tribe."

"Don't worry, Master Hand!" Pac-Man was still as excited as ever. "We'll make it! Besides, at least we get to meet new people! I was getting kinda curious to see what some of the knights were like."

"And then, we have the people in the middle. Foxy, Shovel Knight, Luigi, Freddy, and Roy, you all are going to be on a brand new tribe where once again, the original knights seem to have the majority. Roy, what does that mean for you?"

"Well, if my days are numbered out here, this is a worst case scenario." He explained. "However, me and Freddy do hope that there are some cracks in here. Just because of the fact that the Knights tribe has seemingly won in this situation does not mean what lies underneath is irrelevant."

"And finally," Master Hand held his hand out. "Marth, you're all on your own... _again_..."

He sighed in reaction as he was now the center of attention. "_Very_ unfortunate to say the least. However, I will simply push through as I did the other two times..."

"Just so we're clear, Marth, though you're all alone, the good news is, you are automatically safe from being voted out next tribal. You will join the tribe that goes to Tribal Council that loses a member. But on the other hand, you can not even interact with anybody. Though at the end of the day, you're still in it. Boat's waiting for you. Head on out."

"Farewell for now..." Marth exchanged goodbyes with some of the other competitors with a wave.

"And as for the rest of you, the game has officially changed. Orange team," Master Hand tossed a map for the third tribe. "map to your new home. You are officially starting over with no shelter and a tiny portion of rice. Your tribe name is _Motobu_. Head on out."

_"I was not pleased when I found out that I was going to an empty beach at all." Foxy complained. "You mean to tell me that we're gonna be somewhere where we have no food, shelter, fire, or anything, and we're gonna be happy about it? Not in a million years. Oh well. Guess I can pretend that I'm on a pirate on a deserted island wanting a rescue or something..."_

* * *

_**New Tribes:**_

**Shadow, Mega Man, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda, Pac-Man / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy**

**Marth**

* * *

**Alright, after the Knights tribe recovered from their most recent Tribal Council, I've decided to take a quick look for the emperors a little bit in order for a brief break from all the action happening within the game as Shulk opened up on his thoughts and fears of being the unofficial leader for the tribe (I wanted to give you guys all a break, too. This chapter is even the shortest in the story so far.) However, now the tribes have finally been swapped from two tribes, to three times, plus Marth going to exile for a third time. Poor guy... Guess I only have one question.**

**Question:**

**1\. What are your overall thoughts on this tribe swap? Is your fave safe?**

**Vote on your top five players this season and I will see you all on Wednesday where we will officially start with the new tribes!**


	15. Chapter 15: Day 12 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 15 - Day 12 Part 2

**Mkay. Time for the next part of the first phase of the game, the tribe swap. Unlike last season, this will be the only tribe swap in the story, which means that these three tribes are gonna stay the same until the merge (which is most likely, if not certainly, when there are thirteen players left in the game). And since there are three tribes, that means three more Tribal Councils, which means that if things turn out the way the pre-swap did with both the emperors and knights going to Tribal Council twice, then that means that all three tribes could for all we know each attend one Tribal Council (it'd be kinda funny if it actually happened this season even though there's basically a small chance of that happening. All three tribes are almost perfectly balanced.**

**Onto the tribes themselves, overall, the Knights tribe seemingly has the majority, as they have the numbers on both there own original Chatan beach and the new tribe Motobu (which is basically Tatakai's beach from Survivor - Kodai Island). The only tribe that the Emperors have the majority is there own Nago camp, so even though the emperors have the possibility of being in trouble, we are still even numbered here.**

**With that being said, let's simply see what happens...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 12**

* * *

"Alright, so I guess this is it..."

Shulk, as well as Mega Man and Shadow, brought Krystal and Knuckles over to their camp. The fire was still going from where Shulk left it off and the extra wood was nearby where Roy, Zelda, and Marth left it.

"Nice..." said Krystal taking a brief look around the immediate area she was in. "Always good to explore other places when you can on Survivor. I do it all the time on my job..."

_"Unfortunately, even though it seems that the tribe swap overall worked in the knights's favor, me and Knuckles just so happened to be on the one tribe the emperors have the majority on. We're already at the camp. All I can say is that it's a good thing we didn't isolate Knuckles from our camp. Otherwise, worse case scenario, he'd never be loyal again and wouldn't care to see me go. But still, I get the feeling that Knuckles needs a quick lesson or two on how to adapt socially, so I'm gonna be his best friend for now on until if,... or hopefully, **when **we both get to the merge. For the time being though, since there's a low possibility of us breaking those three up, we should at least get to know them for a bit to get those connections going. It's like trying to get job and we had to be interviewed here by our bosses (the emperors) to see if we can perform in the camp. ...I ended up doing most of the talking, haha!"_

"So I'm a bounty hunter." The vixen was interacting with the emperors as they all sat around the fire eating rice. "I go from planet to planet for a living. Sure it may take some time especially if you're in space, but after a couple months you get used to flying."

Knuckles watched.

"That sounds interesting..." Mega Man commented, taking a spoonful of rice from a seashell. "But I'm not entirely sure if space is really my thing, specifically flying as you say. I much prefer the land myself..."

Krystal laughed at that. "Don't worry. You can just take the passenger seat."

If Knuckles was not only focused on viewing the conversation happening right before his eyes, he was also focused on consuming on the little food he had in front of him. Though it never stopped him for at least acknowledging his position on the tribe right out of the gate.

_"**Man**, this what now what I wanted..." He shook his head in annoyance. "I know that there have been quite a few people in Survivor that have been screwed over by the swap, but that was not the case for me. I was already **basically** on the outs of the old Chatan tribe, but now I'm even more on the bottom than I've ever been before in this game..."_

-/-

_"It was a good thing Shulk opened up this morning." said Mega Man. "Apparently we have even more stuff in common that we initially thought, so I wanted to continue to talk to him, anyway. And then of all people, **Shadow** picked up a red buff as well. In all honesty, things couldn't have been any luckier for me. There are multiple reasons for us to stay together. I have Shadow in, and I think that if me and Shulk have more conversations it will bring us two closer. Hopefully Shadow and Shulk start communicating as well, so I think it's best for me to represent the glue that will hold everyone together here. This is also the only tribe the emperors have the majority on. So if we lose, hopefully the three of us can realize that. Maybe I think it's **us** that needs to start playing like the knights here and how the three of us can be a good team moving forward."_

About half an hour later, the trio of emperors ended up finding time to converse with each other walking along the pathway to the water well.

"Alright, guys." Shulk was leading Shadow and Mega Man through. "I believe that this swap completely worked in our favor over here. We're lucky to have the numbers in our camp and only our camp. Clearly our best interest is to bond with Krystal and Knuckles as much as possible, otherwise they would try to pit ourselves against each other in order so that they can vote one of us off at Tribal Council..."

He eyed Shadow. "Should we tell him about Ghirahim?"

Shadow eyed him back. "...What do you mean?"

"About why we helped the tribe vote him off?"

Now Mega Man was curious.

"Go ahead..." Shadow never cared that much if he revealed what he was told by the gray man from before.

"Alright, Mega, so here's what Ghirahim's downfall was..." The young male began to explain. "Early in the game for some reason, he thought that you and Pac-Man were together, Marth and Roy were together, and that Peach and Zelda were together all in some Pair Up Alliance he named. But then Shadow told me and Freddy that you all were not as hesitant to get rid of Peach as Ghirahim thought of, and he said that Freddy and Zelda had been getting along really well.""

_"So I was sorta in my thoughts this morning to say the least." Shulk admitted with a slight laugh. "Yeah... But now since the swapped happened, it was really just enough to get me focused again out here. It was nice that the three of us can be safe in our own camp. I know about Shadow's reputation here, but I never went against him. So maybe if me and Shadow can get something going with Mega Man in the mix, maybe the three of us can go far. We would make a good threesome, especially with Shadow himself, with one reason being that it can be an alliance that nobody would expect. And Shadow himself is a smart guy, so if I'm in trouble, maybe we can all help each other out. I might be an emperor, but I'll do anything to take care of other people when they need it... Maybe us three could be a good final three here if we get far in the merge."_

"Ghirahim was just too paranoid." Shadow continued. "He figured that us two plus Shulk and Freddy we're all at the bottom, but after what I gathered and found out, it was not true in the slightest. Having someone that can just jump to conclusions within the first three days is what I consider to be a liability. I can not afford to have my game messed up because of his. His mouth got him in trouble and it's what he deserves."

Mega Man had his jaw opened slightly. He could not have believed it.

"Yeah, I actually agreed with Shadow there..." Shulk continued. "He just dug his own grave and I think that if me, Shadow, and Fred voted with him, it would have killed all three of us."

"I think that if we are going to exchange crucial information with one another, we must not be so foolish, or else we are all screwed over and none of us will make the merge."

_"The moment when Shulk told me that Ghirahim apparently thought that I was in some sort of, um... couples alliance, I guess, I was completely stunned, especially the part where he said that me and Pac were one of the three pairs involved..." Mega Man reacted. "However, I was thinking about Shadow the Hedgehog just a bit more. He said that apparently Freddy and Zelda had a relationship going and that we weren't that afraid of getting rid of Peach at the first tribal... **However**, most likely, both me and Shadow know that there is more to the story."_

"Okay..."

Shadow and Mega Man were both near the tribe flag at the beach, leaving Shulk to entertain Krystal and Knuckles before one of them thought that they were all out doing anything suspicious.

"I'm gonna tell you before you tell me." Shadow spoke before Mega Man officially started to speak what he had to say. "The answer is _yes_. I didn't tell Shulk of what you told me. I figured that maybe I could use you for something big. Just because I got rid of Ghirahim does not mean I have vote out everyone potential person that could help me further in this game."

"Oh, okay..." Mega Man sped up the talk at that point. "Well, long story short, you _know_ that I have your back over here. I think that we talked to each other rather well when there were ten of us here. I don't know how the rest of us felt about you, but I think for me it's good that I work with you in this. I've done everything in my power to keep you here, and I do plan on doing the same here."

"Glad you think that way." The hedgehog of the two Mobians at Nago responded.

_"Both times we went to Tribal Council, Shadow was in trouble. I won't be surprised if he gets targeted **again** here. Sure, he's clearly a villain. But like Vati said on Heroes vs Villains, 'I may be working with the devil, but I want the devil on my side.'"_

* * *

**Chatan**

**Day 12**

* * *

"Well, welcome to our house!"

Bonnie showed Pac-Man and Zelda the beach they would be staying on for a while as Greninja and Sheik were coming right behind.

"Hmm..." Pac-Man took a glance around. "It sure looks more open than our beach back at Nago... I could get used to it!"

"Same here." Zelda giggled at him, shifting to the three original knights of the group. "We appreciate you all having us. It is always nice to see new faces here. We were all probably wondering when the tribe swap was going to occur for a while."

"Well, after Rouge left, I'd say we timed it perfectly." Greninja laughed a little. "We thought that there was going to be a swap at sixteen and somebody was gonna be left out and automatically exiled. We apologize in advance for Marth. Like Shovel, he's already been to Exile Island twice."

"It is rather unfortunate." Zelda agreed. "But on a more positive note, not only at this point he should be more used to it, but also, he is the only person from this game that is immune from being eliminated.

_"Before the swap, I was just beginning to feel as if I began to get my foot in with the tribe a little more." said Zelda. "Ghirahim was already gone, and Shadow was probably set to be the next to go, but now that the swap has taken with place, I am stuck with Pac-Man against three original Chatan members which is anything but a good sign. Even though we all can tell that we can generally get along with each other, our fate lies in their hands and anyone that is on the bottom due to tribal line situations always gives you an uneasy feeling. Therefore, I feel as if it's a repeat of what I had to endure back when the game began for me at Nago. Those knights should not be underestimated. They would know that two of the three tribes including this one has the majority, so it would make perfect sense for them to get rid of one of us to increase their chances of having the numbers at merge time. So for me, my question to myself is, 'How do I work my way around it?'"_

Bonnie Roberts sat at the shelter witnessing Zelda and Sheik communicating near him as he went through his bag.

_"It was kind of a good swap for me personally, as well as most of my tribemates. I manage to get the numbers at my own camp and I don't have to worry about my days being numbered right now. However, the problem is of the knights that I ended up getting stuck with. I mean,... I got Sheik **and** Greninja?"_

Greninja was showing off his swimming skills in the water in front of Pac-Man and Zelda as Bonnie and Sheik were somewhere else in the ocean.

"I just think that we need to consider who we're going to get rid of first very carefully." The ninja spoke. "Each of them could be potential threats in their own way. We kept our tribe together, and since they're playing from the bottom, knowing how we played so far, they're going to try their absolute hardest to fracture us (which I wouldn't even blame them for due to obvious reasons.)"

Bonnie simply nodded. "Just keep me in on the loop here or else those two would attempt to swing me over..."

"Will do. And when you get a chance, talk to Greninja."

He and the Pokemon were near the tree mail.

"I mean, I just can't believe that the tribe swap worked in our favor." The frog-like Pokemon stated. "For all we know, one of us could have been sent to exile and that would have caused us to lose the battle here. We need to be very good at these next challenges because if Nago has to go to tribal and they have to vote off one of the knights, we really need to win the other two to make sure we enter the merge with as many numbers as we could."

The rabbit bobbed his head up and down in agreement. "Yep..."

"Oh, when you get a chance, talk to Sheik."

"I just did in the ocean a while ago..."

_"Now I of all people would very much like to keep our team in check." Bonnie told the viewers from home. "However, I feel like this is season thirty-three all over again where I'm in the obvious swing vote position between the two 'lovers' and two 'outsiders'... Not meaning to call Greninja and Sheik a couple or anything, but we all seen the romance on that season, hahaha! ...But besides that, I need to see what these two emperors are like."_

He was now interacting with Pac-Man as he decided to take him for some exploring, Zelda, Greninja, and Sheik not too far behind.

"Ooh, I didn't know you play in a band!"

"Well, not a _real_ band for that." He shook. "We're just performing for kids for example. Think of 'Chuck E. Cheese.'"

"Oh..." Pac-Man blinked. "Well, it's still kinda fun in a way! I bet you have great enjoyment when you see all of those kids happy! It may sound like a lot of work, but it's worth it, right?"

He grinned. "Yeah, I agree. Took me and my friends a while to get to that point but we did it, and now everyone's talking about us when it comes to children's birthday parties and such."

_"I really like Bonnie!" Pac-Man said. "I don't care what type of band he's playing in. I wish he had his guitar right now so that I can hear something. But I guess that will have to wait until this is done. Oh well. I suppose in the mean time I can hang out with him so we can learn more about each other. We were both on different tribes at the beginning, so I can't wait to hear how he was doing over here. I have so much to say!"_

"Now what do _you_ do?"

"I eat ghosts to save people."

Roberts almost immediately stopped in his tracks to widen his eyes. "...Excuse me?"

"There are a bunch of bad guys out there where I'm from, so they just have to go! Don't worry! If you visit my world, I'll protect you!"

"..." Bonnie blinked, still stunned about it. "Thanks, I guess..."

"_Trust me_." Pac-Man reassured. "All they do is chase you around."

_"...But even though, I've been told to not say too much in order to keep things a secret... so right now I guess we can just talking about our separate beaches and the rewards we won. And I can't forget about Greninja and Sheik, too. Hopefully as a whole we can all win challenges! I think we should keep all five of us here."_

* * *

**Motobu**

**Day 12**

* * *

Freddy, Roy, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Foxy were all eyeing their new orange tribe flag on the new beach.

"Alright..." Shovel Knight blinked. "I guess it's time to start making this house a home..."

"Good idea." Luigi scratched the back of his head. "Might as well make something out of it since we're gonna be here for a while. The beach doesn't seem to be that bad..."

"There were quite a lot of trees where me and Roy where and there aren't as many trees here, so I can guess I can deal with it..." said Freddy. "Maybe one positive is that it doesn't have to be as big since we're only five people."

_"Being swapped is one thing." Roy spoke. "Going to a completely new beach just to start over as if it is day one all over again only makes it more frustrating. No rewards, no shelter already built, and now we have to make a new fire and locate tree mail and a water well all over again. And to top it all off, I am now on the bottom with Freddy. Not the best combination if I do say so myself. However, meeting three new faces that I'm going to be spending some time with is a plus, I suppose, even though they are going to run the show over here..."_

Just like the Chatan tribe, Shovel Knight was leading the way as the five of them were searching for the water well with a map in the knights hand.

"Hmm..." He glanced behind him. "Team, I think we have made a wrong turn. We're going the wrong way."

"We're still walking along a clear path, though." Roy said. "It has to lead somewhere."

"Hmm..." Shovel Knight thought for a moment. "This is probably the way to tree mail..."

And indeed he was correct as the quintet of survivors all reached the end of the path way to find the tree mail near the end of the forest. Though with one head turn to his left, there was yet another pathway, likely an alternative direction to the well.

_"Now me and Freddy have to fight for our lives over here as much as Shovel Knight, Foxy, and Luigi pretend that we're all a happy team of Motobu, none of those three played with us since the beginning, so that means we do not know each other as much, which means, we are less likely to be trusted, and they most likely have no intentions on doing anything that would disappoint their original tribe. I believe me and Freddy need to have a one on one talk as soon as possible."_

The red-haired young adult decided that it was a perfect opportunity for him to volunteer for them all to split up and have himself confirm the water well location with Freddy Fazbear as the earliest chance he could have.

"Okay..." He started. "So, it is quite obvious that we need to have some form of game plan here even though clearly we could only do so much."

"Well, what we do know for sure is that every time there is a new tribe after a tribe swap, there is a new hidden immunity idol." Freddy assumed. "It's somewhere on this beach, and I don't think Exile Island is required... Could be wrong, though..."

"You don't think Marth will get a clue to another idol himself?" Roy asked.

"It depends on whether or not idols are on Exile Island, but as the days go on, the less likely it would make sense if idols are actually found on that island, especially with a season like this." The anthropomorphic animal theorized. "Not ruling it out entirely, but in a game of Survivor, we have to treat as if it is a possibility. Look for anything that seems unusual."

"I'll do my best." Roy nodded. "...Even though we both are aware that finding an idol is like attempting to locate a needle in a haystack, it is worth a shot since it is three against two. They're probably discussing which of the two of us they are going to eliminate, but I know they were planning on doing that sometime in the future, anyway. But hey, I'd rather make it obvious that you and me already having a side conversation than not interact with one another at all. Something tells me that whoever loses the immunity challenge will determine the fate of all three tribes based on whoever goes home."

Naturally, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Foxy chose to have their own conversation at the treemail, Shovel Knight actually checking it to make sure there was nothing important that was to be read on that day.

"I mean..." Foxy raised his eyebrow with arms folded. "They separated themselves that fast?"

"Well, I suppose it was bound to happen sooner or later." replied Shovel Knight. "Roy was the one who suggested that he find the water well and Freddy of course decided to go with him."

"I don't actually blame him. I kinda had a feeling that those two emperors were gonna suddenly do it out of nowhere, I just didn't know when, especially not this early. Guess that's what emperors do."

"True, yet in their defense, they would have caught us doing the same thing and we would have been hypocrites, so I don't blame either one of them either. Though since we not have the opportunity to strategize, we should plan in advance in what we are going to accomplish. The swap worked in our favor, and hopefully we could keep it that way."

_"Whew..." Luigi sat by a tree with a sigh of relief wiping sweat from his forehead. "I was still being looked at on the old Chatan tribe, but now I'm officially in the majority. It's a different, but good feeling. Now the knights have the potential to have a lead over the emperors, and it was a good thing that I ended up with Shovel Knight, since if I was thinking of which of the knights I wished I would have ended up with, it would have been him, anyway. It seems that I can finally have a big break out here."_

"So say if we were ever going to tribal," Foxy started. "how are we gonna vote? Who's the weakest? Most threatening? Social players? ...All of the above?"

"Mainly the latter." Shovel Knight suggested. "Literally everything we do counts from this point on. Roy has his own reasons on why he could be a threat, and Freddy has his own reasons on why he could become a threat. Bottom line is if we don't send an emperor home, we're all going to be at the bottom since Marth will replace whoever goes home. Let's think. If one of us is targeted by Roy and Freddy, which of the three of us would they choose?"

"..." Foxy remained in position.

"I'd say either me or you." Luigi pointed to Shovel Knight. "They might talk to us about you possibly having the idol and you two are both stronger than I am..."

"Whoever they might target, we gotta think three steps ahead and figure out how we're going to use that to our advantage so we can counterstrike against them." Foxy recommended. "But for now, I think we should regroup and after we get everything built with a fire that we can hopefully get, I'd like to check out the beach here."

-/-

Luckily for Motobu, a filnt came up with their tool supplies; perfect for starting a fire. Foxy currently was the only having a go at it, striking the machete against it as much as he could on the coconut husk. It took him at least ten minutes, though his effort paid off as a small flame ignited, Roy and Shovel Knight immediately adding small twigs and sticks to help it grow, the fox blowing all the while. Pretty soon, the fire was a success.

"Alright, about time..." He heaved a sigh of relief. "Seriously... I can not afford to not eat anything..."

"Don't worry, everyone." said Shovel Knight. "We all might not have anything as the rest of the tribes do, and we are probably set to lose the next challenge due to us having the disadvantage, but I believe that if we do everything in our power and do whatever it takes to win, then all five of us would simply leave to see another day."

"Thanks for the motivation." Roy commented. "I think we have a pretty decent team. Though I think now's the time to learn more about you. Are you used to the outdoors at least?"

"'At least?'" Shovel Knight repeated. "I've always been known for being an adventurous person where I'm from. Camp life, exploring, and generally enjoying myself every step of the way means a lot."

He chuckled a bit as Freddy got into it with a grin. "Guess we could use your experience here."

"I'll be more than happy to help in any way I can." Shovel Knight told him. "You seem to be a strong man, so I believe you would be perfect for the team to prove everyone wrong that just because we had to start over, does not mean that we are automatically weaker than everyone else."

"We'll make it." Foxy said, beginning to drop a couple larger sticks in the fire with Luigi. "As long as we know what we're doing, we're fine."

"Hey," Freddy suddenly spoke. "since we're already getting to know each other, you guys wanna know where _I_ work at?"

"Where?" asked Luigi.

"I'm the boss of a pizza place."

Foxy smirked. "Ah, really?"

"Yeah."

"Make sure you make me some pizza whenever I visit, okay?"

He laughed at that. "Alright, deal. Even though I am not actually the one making it I'll tell my employees about you."

_"The emperors are nice people at the end of the day." said Foxy with a small grin. "Roy is an eighteen year old swordsman apparently (which obviously blew my mind), however, for some reason Freddy is really sticking out to me. He seems to be a different type of emperor and I'm a different type of knight, and even though I'm a knight, me and him are both still the bosses that still had to fight hard for our own reasons. Perhaps this is a good opportunity to get to know him."_

"So yeah, then people started to compare to 'Jackson Sparsan' from _Pirates of the Bahamas_ just because of all of my 'crew', I'm the 'captain.' I honestly think that it's funny that some people call me that, but I don't have plans to be an actor anytime soon."

Michaels was now walking along the beach with Fazbear.

The latter giggled. "Who knows? It could actually be kind of fun."

"Yeah, _no_."

"Alright, then." He shifted his eyes to the sand he was walking on. "Oh, sorry about how that challenge played out, by the way."

"Oh, it's nothing." Now it was Foxy's turn to laugh. "It was just a challenge. Even though you helped cost us a reward we were on different teams fighting for it and you did good, nonetheless. How are things on your tribe?"

"The tribe is good, I suppose." Freddy explained, knowing that he knew not to share too much with Foxy of all people. Although, he felt he had to say _something_. "Overall, I think they all lived up to their name. Everyone seemed to be playing their own individual game there. I wouldn't even be surprised if there were some stuff I didn't know about. But as far as where I stand in the tribe, no one seems to be exactly even looking at me as of now, but you never know, you know?"

"Yeah, that's the case with literally everyone who plays this game."

"Yeah... And the thing with me is that I know the whole social thing here." Freddy continued. "You have to talk to everybody and find something in common with everybody even though you might not like this person or that person, you want someone to work with you. But for me in particular, I think I'm doing alright, socially. However, I don't think I've made that many strong connections over there, yet..."

_"Even though I had Shadow and Shulk to an extent, I only worked with them to help the tribe with the Ghirahim vote." Freddy was leaning against a rock in a sand. "But as far as I know with the tribe, literally the only person on that tribe that was willing to work with me was Zelda, and that was all the way back on day three. Sure for Shulk, I was part of that conversation the morning before the swap, but we are separated. And me and Zelda haven't actually talked that much as of late, since she was relieved that Ghirahim was out of the game, and literally everybody else only talks with me for like five minutes about casual stuff and camp life. So I don't think I have that many close relationships, which are absolutely crucial in a game like this. And I feel like if I don't have a single long lasting connection with anyone out here, it could cost me a million dollars, and I'm trying to stay in as long as possible."_

"Honestly, the hardest part for me is about trying to build connections with people. Back where I work at, it actually took me a while to really get my foot in with my team at that restaurant." Fazbear elaborated. "What I mean by that is it... kinda took a while for them all to actually get to know me. And of course, people quitting left and right due to the circumstances that were occurring at the time didn't help either. I constantly had to hire new employees and everything, so I constantly had to introduce myself to new people. I... was actually frustrated at times because the restaurant was constantly at risk closing, and some of them put the blame on me and everything, had a few fights here and there, but fast forward a few years I finally got myself together and came up with new ideas, and right now I can't ask for anything better."

"Sounds like you been through a lot..."

"I have... First I had a hard time building genuine relationships with my employees, now they're all encouraging me to be on Survivor."

That was when Foxy finally faced the emperor with a smile. "...You know, you sound a lot like me right now."

He looked back. "Oh, really?"

"Well,... except the part where you said you had to constantly hire new employees and everything. The crew that I'm with was my crew from day one." Foxy admitted. "But I guess other than that, we do kinda relate a little."

"I can see." Freddy nodded in agreement. "...Honestly, long story short, the hardest part for me is opening up to people based on what was going on. ...And so, that is the one thing that will put me to the test out here. I just need to know that I have at least one close ally I can count on..."

"...You ever thought of me?" Foxy was still staring. "I mean, I know we were on different tribes when we started, but I think you're doing a good job opening up right now."

_"I really like Freddy." Foxy's grin grew larger. "I really feel for this man. He's been through a lot and I guess my worst fear is me easily finding myself in his shoes with my crew. He's reminding me of another possible recruit I could have, and maybe he could be an emperor that I need to work with out here, and if I could, I'd like to help him out as well. If he's testing himself on how he would build solid connections out here, then my test for myself would be on how do I balance my social relationships with strategic gameplay. And with Freddy, he'd be good for both."_

"You serious?" Freddy raised an eyebrow.

"We speak a similar language." said Foxy. "You know at this point in Survivor you can't just work with one tribe here. It's boring just working with the same people... Uh, not saying that I'm the type of person that will make moves just for the sake of making one..."

"Oh, no." The original member of the red team laughed. "I know what you mean."

"You have to work with both sides in order to progress in the game, and if you feel if you aren't close with that many of the emperors, than us working together could be good for the both of us."

"Thanks, Foxy." Freddy sighed in relief. "We'll see, but I really appreciate it."

"Hey," Foxy was not done yet. "like you, I also got a few connections to build out here, even though I can say that I'm making a bit of progress so far, but for me, one more couldn't hurt. I got your back if you have mine. Oh, in the meantime, I highly recommend we all get a fire here before we all starve to death and I'll get mad. I'm still trying to get over the fact that we were forced to come to a whole new beach."

"Alright, that'll work fine." Freddy nodded. "Thanks again."

_"I may be on the bottom on this new Motobu tribe, but at least I'm finally starting to build real connections out here. This gives me hope."_

* * *

**Didn't expect this chapter to be this long, but I guess that was due to Motobu, specifically Freddy and Foxy having a moment and I didn't wanna rush it lol. But, don't worry. Chatan will get more screen time next chapter, and we still need to get to Marth on Exile Island next time. I would explain some things here, but I want you all to add your opinion. So...**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you feel as if your favorite characters are safe on a certain tribe? (It can be anybody but Marth because he clearly isn't going anywhere lol)**

**2\. Would anybody from the majority vote out one of the people on the bottom, or would they actually flip and vote out one of their own?**

**3\. What do you make of Freddy and Foxy's moment?**

**Next time we'll get to the first immunity challenge as swap tribes. Vote for your top five players this season and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	16. Chapter 16: Day 13 & Day 14 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 16 - Day 13 & Day 14 Part 1

**Saturday once again and now is time for a brand new chapter of "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" Not too much to say here, only because I already said what was going to happen today in the last chapter, so I guess I can take advantage of this. It is finally time to start talking about Season 3 of my series. However, there's only going to be one and one only detail that I'm going to reveal today.**

**And that will be... that it is going to be in a brand new location lol. That's all I can say for right now. I know exactly what the season is going to be next time, but right now all I can say is that we will officially be out of Japan after this season is over. It will be in a new location that not even actual Survivor has touched before. That alone is exciting for me, because I always loved seeing the different countries Survivor covers.**

**But for now, let's just get back to Emperors vs Knights.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Exile Island**

**Day 13**

* * *

It was almost mid morning when Marth decided to take a walk towards the tree mail since he never had anything better to do.

_"I didn't even have much to say yesterday..." Marth slowly shook his head. "I mean, I am back on exile again. What is there more to say?"_

By the time he got there, he stared down at what was in front of him, only to find out that upon opening there was literally nothing. No envelope explaining his obvious situation, nor anything that explained to him of any possible reward or immunity challenge as compared to all that he done on Nago.

_"Perhaps someone from my army would take a glance at this and assume that it is nothing but sitting on an island like this where it rains half the time and no one else is around. But the thing is,... that is simply it. Imagine being by yourself on Exile Island for the rest of your life... Maybe one might actually lose it out here, but I am going to keep fighting and simply wait and consider what I would do depending on whatever tribe I might end up on..."_

* * *

**Chatan**

**Day 13**

* * *

Back on the Chatan tribe, Sheik was having a conversation with Zelda by the fire, since the rest of the members were not near the shelter at the time.

"I mean, isn't it interesting that we are both from Hyrule?"

"I could not have believed it myself." Zelda responded to the ninja. "Have we ever seen each other before?"

"Never even heard of you." Sheik denied. "Otherwise I doubt we would be playing on the same season... However, apparently rumor has it that on this season entitled 'Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers' there were two castaways that attended the same college..."

"I suppose this is the reason to why they rarely allow multiple contestants to compete here on the same season at the same time." Zelda concluded. "I wonder if the team ever thought that there could have been a possibility that we knew each other, but I guess somehow they figured that we did not."

"Well, whatever the case is, at the end of the day, it was good that you have been swapped to this tribe, since now we both know that we come from the same place." Sheik told her. "Because that means that of the twenty of us, we are the most likely to meet outside the game, and after day thirty-nine, we can discuss quite literally everything."

"It would be kind of a lot to cover, that's for sure."

"Okay..." Sheik then decided to change the subject. "Alright, forgive me for asking you something like this, but I'm curious. How were you on the emperors tribe? You felt things were going well for you?"

"Curiosity is fine. Honestly, you know that I was not exactly the strongest of the tribe when you compare myself to Ghirahim or Freddy or Shulk. Hence, the reason to why Peach was the first voted out of the competition and I was spared. Ghirahim on the other hand dug his own grave by generally not fitting well with the rest of us." Zelda knew that even though she was telling the truth, it was not exactly the entirety of it.

"I don't blame you all for sending Ghirahim packing. That is exactly how Cloud was sent home."

"Strength at that point was not everything." Zelda shook her head. "And in the end, the tribe understood that and Ghirahim ended up being unanimously voted out."

_"I am getting along with Zelda just fine. We're both from the same world, she's a hard worker based on what she's told me, and she is quite smart and wise. Pac-Man is nice, too. He's an interesting, fun person to be around and I have the feeling that he was really well liked on the old Emperors tribe, and I don't blame them. Me and the other two knights here are quite fond of him as well."_

Speaking of Pac-Man, he was currently interacting with Bonnie quite well as they both sat in the chairs the knights won back on day nine, Roberts for some reason laughing at one of Pac-Man stories he had to tell him.

_"However, the moment when Pac-Man stepped foot on his beach, he has been talking to Bonnie in particular non-stop, and Bonnie has quickly grew extremely close to him. I mean, it is not the fault of either of them, but I suppose it is just Pac-Man's likable personality. And people are aware that likability can play a factor in someone being the Sole Survivor. Me and Greninja needed to consider who is more risky to keep around anyone, since we do not want Marth screwing up the numbers. So as far as I am concerned, Pac-Man at this moment is the bigger threat."_

She found some time interacting with Greninja near the water well, leaving Zelda with the other two males who returned shortly after the two women conversed.

"Is it just me, or has Bonnie grew as close to Pac-Man as if he is his little brother?"

"I know. They're buddy-buddy. Those two are already like _that_." Greninja held his fingers together apparently thinking the same. "Well, now we know who is most likely to get the votes... unless Zelda would be considered as the days go on..."

"That depends. Me and her talked and she seems to be highly intelligent." She told him. "I think it is going to be the strategic threat vs the social threat, and we have to look at the pros and cons of each of them."

"...You think Zelda would become a strategic threat?" Greninja blinked.

"Like I said, she is smart, so she could have at least the potential to become one."

"Would Bonnie be willing enough to get rid of Pac-Man?"

"Hope so, because the three of us has to come to a decision. There's clearly not enough room for us to split votes." Sheik shook her head from left to right. "If Bonnie is not on board for getting rid of Pac-Man, then that means we would have no choice but to get rid of Zelda."

-/-

Back with Zelda, Bonnie, and Pac-Man, Zelda knew that she had the perfect opportunity to see where Bonnie's head was at.

_"So I noticed that Bonnie has been openly interacting with Pac-Man quite a bit. It may be a concern for both Sheik and Greninja, but if anything, this is good for my game, because it gives a possibility of him working with us in the future so that the both of us could have more of a fighting chance." Zelda then sighed. "This is the old Nago beach all over again. I was with Peach from day one, and she ended up getting voted off. Now I am in a similar situation again..."_

"So let me ask you, Bonnie," she started. "what do you think is best for you moving forward?"

Pac-Man looked at Zelda.

"Hmm..." Bonnie Roberts in his mind was actually absolutely hoping a question like that would have never came up. Now he had to think of something quick, yet intelligent enough to say. "Moving forward for me is to make sure people are on the same page as I am."

"That is a good strategy." Zelda nodded in agreement. "What do you think of Greninja and Sheik?"

This was the part where Bonnie knew he had to be careful. "They're both good people. I can see myself being friends with both of them outside the game. Did you know that Greninja basically almost died?"

"Well I think he told me that yesterday." Zelda was apparently already aware. "Very unfortunate. Obviously if he never made it, he would not be on this island right now. ...Excuse me for suddenly changing topics back again..."

Pac-Man looked at Bonnie.

Bonnie actually laughed. "It's cool... And honestly, I think I could still see myself working with them in the future so I can stay in this game as long as possible."

At this point, Zelda knew exactly what he was thinking.

_"I've attempted to see if I can strategize with him, but it quite obvious that he simply has no intentions on strategizing with me. He is sticking with Greninja and Sheik, which means even though he likes Pac-Man, we are both in trouble, and I would not even be surprised if I was the target here."_

In Bonnie's mind, he became sort of worried.

_"Greninja and Sheik were right about Zelda. I can see right through her. If I somehow have plans on not voting one of them out at this moment, since I would not mind keeping Pac-Man here because of the fact that it's one more connection that could work for my game, it seems that at this point, the vote is gonna come down to Zelda."_

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 13**

* * *

A large spider was crawling from beneath Nago's shelter as Krystal was stuck with Knuckles at the camp, while the rest of the emperors were scattered all over the place. Mega Man seemed to be searching for a hidden immunity idol, not sure if it was already found by Marth or somebody else, Shulk was fishing for the tribe, and Shadow was standing on a tall rock viewing the horizon.

Thus, it left both of the new members to eye the fire and talk among themselves, Knuckles not taking his eyes off the fire, since he never had anything else to look at other than Krystal at the time. As for the vixen herself, she seemed to busy being lost in her own thoughts to stare at anything or anyone in particular.

Yet a few more minutes later, she chose to finally mouth where her mind was at. "...What are you thinking, Knuckles?"

The sudden voice caused him to move his head from slight surprise, only to stare at the fire once more. "...I dunno..."

"I mean, we can't just sit here. We have to do something, because you know that if I'm gone, you're next. This is the one tribe the emperors have the majority on, and they know it. We already have the favor in the swap as a whole, and the emperors are gonna retaliate by picking us two off."

_"If we lose the next immunity challenge, I know that I'm going to be on the chopping block because if they still want to win challenges, I am not as strong as Knuckles over here and they're gonna choose the weaker of the two. Marth is already on Exile Island and he's gonna replace somebody that will not help anything at all of course. So it's not like me and Knuckles can vote for each other over here, which means that our only option is somehow finding a hidden immunity idol if Marth somehow does not have it even though he's been to exile the most. You never know."_

"We'll keep an eye on one another in the forest. I'll check one side, and you check the other." Krystal suggested.

-/-

Luckily for Knuckles, he was a great digger. If something was lost in the sand, he would have dug it up in a hurry. His best interest would have been that the idol was somewhere on the ground. Fortunately for him, he seemed to be somewhere in the forest, as where the majority of the idols in Survivor were found...

..._Unfortunately_, Shadow the Hedgehog came by at just the right moment to find Knuckles digging occasionally, looking all over the place for the most part.

"...Ahem..."

Hearing his voice immediately caught him off guard as he turned around in an instant.

"..."

He laughed out of nervousness scratching the back of his head. "Uh,... hi?"

"I don't blame you." was all Shadow had to say. "...Is Krystal looking for one?"

"She could be, but I don't know for sure." Knuckles never exactly wanted to throw Krystal under the bus, yet at the same time, he felt that he had to get the target off of himself. "You three have separated and I just took advantage of that..."

"So you did..." Shadow nodded in agreement.

"...I'm gone, now. ...Right?"

"Nothing is certain until Master Hand reads the votes at the Tribal Council, if we're even going depending on this next immunity challenge. Anything can and will happen, just as he always says."

"Alright..."

"Maybe I'll spare you instead of Krystal, maybe not." said the black hedgehog. "However, since we are having a one on one conversation at this moment, perhaps we can use this opportunity to learn about one another. What was your position on the other tribe?"

"...Wait, seriously?" Knuckles blinked in reaction.

"I'll tell my story if you tell yours."

_"Knowing me of all people, I would have easily dismissed Knuckles and let him continue on what he was doing and reported him to Mega Man and Shulk, but then I figured that if I was deciding between him and Krystal on who to keep, I wanted to learn more about Knuckles' position prior to him coming here on the island. And unfortunately, as much as I hate to reveal information about myself, especially for this game in particular, being honest and explaining to him what I have gone through afterwards is the only way he would have spilled."_

"...Well," Even though he was thinking about the tribe, it was one of those moments for Knuckles where he had to only care about himself in a selfish game such as Survivor. "me and the tribe all bonded together well since day one, but after Cloud got blindsided, me and Rouge were on the outs since we were the only two people that chose to vote for Luigi instead because they thought that I was never going to write Cloud and that Rouge was too close me, which she wasn't because I didn't like after she talked about me behind my back basically."

"He went on. So two days ago when we had to go to tribal again, it was between me and her because the tribe didn't want to be divided so early in the game. I wouldn't have been surprised if it was me that was going home because I might become too big of a physical threat to keep around over someone like Rouge that is someone like Vati if you know what I mean. Though, me and Foxy talked for a bit and he told me that he was going to convince the tribe to get rid of Rouge over me, because he told me that I'm someone that he wanted to work with. But overall, one of us had to be the sacrificial lamb so that we can all move forward say if there was going to be a swap and now look what happened."

"Hmm..." With all this information in mind, Shadow knew all too well that it was quite something to think about.

_"I really don't care who goes home as long as it's not me at this point. Since Rouge left last time, and we never swapped, then I would have remained on the bottom of the totem pole all alone with no options. What other choice did I have? I felt that I had to tell Shadow of what was going on to increase my chances of staying over Krystal to prove to him that I can be trustworthy, especially after we made a deal that if I was to tell my story, I would hear his."_

"Where does Krystal stand?" He asked.

"She was just somebody that was in the majority, which was literally everybody but me at that point as much as they all tried to pretend it was the eight of us together at that point."

"...Alright." Shadow nodded after hearing him out. "Thank you for taking the time to be honest with me. Where I stood on this tribe was that after Peach left, the tribe was against me and Ghirahim since we apparently 'never got along with anyone.' However, the only reason to why I stayed over Ghirahim was that he was more aggressive than I was. Come to think of it, I ended up having to vote against Ghirahim as well, since he thought that us two, plus Shulk and Freddy were at the bottom. Yet in the end, that proved to be false. He was much too paranoid for me to keep around, so with no other option, I had to vote for him with the tribe, knowing the risk of me possibly being the next to go if there was no swap and if we lost the next immunity challenge."

"...So you were the only one on the bottom as well?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"Dang..." Knuckles could not have believed it. "I'm in the exact same position as you are... well, not at _this_ moment in particular..."

_"I learned quite a bit about Knuckles's position in the game at this point." Shadow was leaning against the same rock as before with folded arms. "In the pre-swap, we were apparently in similar situations. I was on the outs of my tribe, and he was on the outs of his tribe. As something minor, we both originate from the planet of Mobius. But back to this game in particular, we were the only ones that were considered to be possibly the next boots, and we both just so happen to be on the same tribe as we speak. And to top it all off, he's certainly going to be more physical than the other knight will be in the challenges, especially since the vixen sat out a couple. All this leads to exactly why Krystal should be the target over Knuckles. But then again, if Knuckles mouths, he's a dead man walking. Though, I highly doubt he would..."_

The two performed a respectable handshake.

"Appreciate it, man..." Knuckles said as the two began to make their way back to camp.

* * *

**Motobu**

**Night 13**

* * *

It was a calm, quiet night at the Motobu beach as the members of the new orange team were sleeping peacefully in the shelter...

...all except for Freddy Fazbear.

_"Those knights have been watching over me and Roy non stop throughout the whole day as if they were police officers. When they say they work hard, the really meant it. They really don't want the minority of the tribe to find an idol, since this is a new tribe and there's a third idol in the game. The Knights alliance wants to make sure they find an idol before us. So about halfway through, I forced my idol search to a stop just so that I had a chance to look for it at night since I assumed that no one else would be awake."_

He slowly rose from the shelter and began to walk.

_"The hardest part of it all was making sure my mind knew that I needed to stay awake while pretending to be asleep, or else I would screw my own chances of finding something around here."_

"Good thing I quite like the dark..."

Freddy seemed to have an easier time in the night than he thought. He managed to find a rolled up piece a paper inside a clear bottle in the sand far away from the flag. Fazbear figured that it was possible that the only reason to why no one else saw it at the time was because of the group hardly being that far away from the camp even though all five of them explored.

Nonetheless, that thought entered Freddy's mind after the fact, since he was far too excited as he opened the bottle to read.

...

Although, he suddenly gasped with a hand over his mouth. "..._What_?"

_"And so, I read this note, and even though it wasn't a hidden immunity idol, at least I know where it would be... It's apparently hidden at the next immunity challenge... In front of everyone... Oh, boy..."_

* * *

**Day 14**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

All three tribes made their way across the sand as they approached their first immunity challenge as new tribes. When taking a glance, they found three makeshift jail cells made from wood as they stepped onto their respective mat.

Also, hidden in Motobu's jail cell in one of the corners was an item wrapped up in an orange cloth.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?" Master Hand asks before going to Nago where Mega Man was ready to give away the idol. "I'll take it back. Thanks, Mega Man."

He went back to the table to place it down.

"This time, not one, but _two _tribes will be immune from tonight's Tribal Council. Second place is officially an option. With that being said,..." Master Hand pulled out an even smaller version of the taller immunity idol. "once again immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, it's all about how well both the emperors and knights can cooperate and communicate with each other properly. It's a series of rescues. There are three cages with three prisons in each one. Your entire tribe will be locked up except for one tribe rescuer. On my go, one rescuer will go out and retrieve their tribe flag. Using your hands, start digging until you are able to make your way into the first cage where you will release your first tribemate who is tied up. Together, you will dig into the second cage to release two more tribe members. Use the sticks and rope around you to build a pole so that you are able to retrieve a key that will allow you to enter the third cage, as well as you now being with the rest of your tribe."

"Now everybody is in the last cage and you have to get through the final door by using that same pole to retrieve one more key. First two tribes with their flag that crosses the finish line, wins. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the fifth person voted out of this game. Choose your tribe rescuers, and we will get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. We have our rescuers." said Master Hand as he began to call out. "It is going to be Shadow for Nago, Greninja for Chatan, and Foxy for Motobu. For immunity. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

The tribes who were in their separate cells all began to cheer as the three dashers took off from their respective teams, dashing along the sand, making a right by some of the trees where the tribe flags stood near the water.

"Shadow's already off to an early lead, but Greninja and Foxy are not too far behind!"

The hedgehog managed to grab the red flag first and quickly begin to make his way over to Nago's jail cells. By the time he got there, he nimbly begin to dig his way under, Knuckles the Echidna on the other side waiting for his new teammate. Sure, it was arguable that Knuckles would have been sent as the initial rescuer, but the tribe figured that speed mattered more to how well one could have dug under, and they viewed Shadow being just a bit faster than Knuckles.

"All three rescuers are digging." Master Hand noted. "...Shadow and Greninja managed to get in about the same time. ...Here comes Foxy."

Now they all had to untie the second rescuer. Shadow needed to untie Knuckles, Greninja needed to untie Pac-Man, and Foxy needed to untie Shovel Knight.

"Come on, Greninja!" said Pac-Man jumping up and down with his hands still being tied together on the post. "Don't give up! You can do it!"

"Knuckles is now free!" Master Hand called. "Now they gotta start digging in order to reach the second cage... _**Wow**_! Look at Knuckles _go_!"

The echidna was digging as if it was the only way out of a burning castle in order to make it to the outside. Not only he made it through with little to no trouble at all, he was now digging as fast as possible to help Shadow get through.

"Nago is extending their lead as Chatan and Motobu are just now starting to dig."

Fortunately for the other two teams, they still had a decent shot. Pac-Man and Shovel Knight were two of the smallest characters of the cast, causing them to get through in a hurry, making them rival Knuckles's digging. However, the small downside was that they still had to help get Greninja and Foxy through.

"...Shadow's through... Here comes Pac-Man... and Shovel Knight! Knuckles and Shadow are now in the second cage, starting to untie Shulk and Mega Man."

As physical Knuckles was, he was not the best at untying knots, making Shadow help out just a bit after he freed Shulk. However, they quickly freed Mega Man shortly after. Though in the end, it caused the other two tribes to make up some time, even if it was just by a few seconds.

"...Sheik and Bonnie are now untied! ...Freddy and Luigi... are now free! All three tribes are now working on their poles!"

"Don't rush, guys." Greninja said. "We're still in this..."

And in a few seconds later, there came through Greninja into the second cage, Foxy and Shovel Knight bringing up the rear. Sheik, Bonnie, Freddy, and Luigi were the next castaways that were set to be freed from the ropes.

"Once those tribe members are free you can start making a pole in order to reach that first key."

For Shovel Knight, he was rather brilliant at tying the sticks together, so it caused them to gain the advantage over at least one of the other competing tribes.

"We need to make it as tight as possible..."

"Nago's gonna give it a go..."

It was Shulk that chose to reach out for the keys, his long pole sticking through one of the many open spaces of the cage, reaching as far as he could to get to the keys that were hanging on a post.

"You got it..." Knuckles blinked as the Heir to the Mondao now had the key ring on said pole as Freddy decided to go for Motobu, Sheik being the one for Chatan.

"...Shulk drops his keys!"

"It's okay, we still got this. Just drag it the rest of the way..." said Mega Man as Shulk now had to focus on the keys on the ground.

"...Freddy has his keys and he's making a big risk by bringing the pole back in as fast as possible!" The host of Survivor observed. "Sheik is rather doing it more slow and steady making sure she doesn't mess up."

Since Freddy's tribe was actually the first to retrieve the keys, Luigi was able to unlock the door for the team first.

"Motobu takes the lead as they are now in their third and final cage thanks to Freddy's big move!"

Speaking of Fazbear, he out of nowhere began to think of the hidden immunity idol as Shovel Knight and Luigi were not untying Roy. With Foxy glancing over at their progress, Freddy glanced around the final cage he was in. And within moments, he saw what was figuratively calling out to him in one of the corners. Almost immediately, he grabbed the orange piece of cloth a and stuffed it inside his pants.

"Nago's trying to untie Krystal... Here comes Chatan now trying to untie Zelda!"

And Motobu was already beginning to test their pole once more, Freddy still taking the role as the person to actually reach for the keys.

"Alright, now this time, slow and steady..." Shovel Knight strongly recommended Freddy using the opposite strategy compared to previously. "We're already in the lead..."

Listening, Freddy took his time, yet he never intended to lose his lead. Thus, he managed to be both quick and careful as the keys were pulled in.

"Nago now testing their pole... but it's starting to break apart..."

Shadow cursed under his breath as Shulk could not have even reached the keys before the knots tied on the pieces of wood were loosening.

"Bring it back in! Bring it back in!" Knuckles shouted. "We gotta tie them a little more tighter!"

Krystal shifted her head to find Greninja reaching for the keys, and at the same time, Roy was the one who managed to unlock the door.

"Come on! Come on!"

"All of Motobu is now running to their mat..."

"_**MOTOBU WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

The new tribe of orange all cheered in great excitement.

"We're now looking for second place!" Master Hand announced as the stakes were raised even higher.

"Chatan has their keys!"

Shadow cursed under his breath as Sheik managed to snatch the keys off the pole as soon as the pole was close enough, just as Nago was going for their second attempt.

Yet like some of the challenges in Survivor, even the greatest efforts proved to be too little, too late.

"Zelda unlocks the door for Chatan and now they're all running to their mat!"

Shadow shook his head.

"_**CHATAN WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

Watching Chatan celebrate in victory, Knuckles decided to take out his anger and frustration on Nago's pole, kicking it so hard it almost completely fell apart against the door of the cage.

-/-

"Motobu, despite being a brand new tribe, you guys pulled it off. _Immunity_." Master Hand gave the immunity idol to Luigi as his tribe clapped in reaction. "Nobody going home from your tribe. Head on back to camp."

"Chatan, at least you all came in second. Nobody going home from your tribe either." The second place immunity idol was given to Pac-Man. "You guys can head on out where all five of you will live to see day fifteen in this game. You all are almost at the halfway point this season."

Shulk, Mega Man, Krystal, Knuckles, and Shadow all watched the other ten Survivor competitors heading out.

"Nago, got nothing for you but a date with me at Tribal Council. I will see you there. Once you all have voted somebody off, you will then gain Marth who will come later tonight. You have the afternoon to decide who's going to get the boot. Head on out."

_"Worst case scenario, of all the tribes here, **this** tribe now has to go to tribal." Knuckles was clearly not happy. "If there is one thing that I can't stand is when someone other than **myself** has to decide my fate for me. It doesn't even matter for those three emperors since they're not going home, anyway, while for me and Krystal, we're already screwed over. We're done..."_

* * *

**(I found this idea from Survivor - Pearl Islands, but the challenge itself apparently started in Thailand. Speaking of challenges, they'll all be updated by next Wednesday.)**

**Alright, so Mega Man, Shadow, Knuckles, Krystal, and Shulk will go to Tribal Council next time, and whoever gets voted out this time will be replaced by Marth, and it seems pretty clear that it's Knuckles vs Krystal (due to the fact that Nago is the one tribe the emperors have the majority on, they appear to be playing it safe by targeting one of those two and Mega Man, Shulk, and Shadow wanting to have an even stronger connection), and Knuckles already had to go against literally at the last Tribal Council lol. Also, Freddy found an idol today. So he, Marth, and Shovel Knight all have idols.**

**Questions:**

**1\. If Motobu was going to Tribal Council and an emperor was going to be sent home, would it be either Freddy or Roy at this point? Otherwise, would it actually be someone from the majority?**

**2\. Which of the five members of Nago is going to get the boot?**

**Vote for your top five players this season if you haven't already and ****I will see you all next Wednesday for the fifth official elimination of the season!**


	17. Chapter 17: Day 14 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 17 - Day 14 Part 2

**Time for another chapter in this story. This week we're going to have the fifth person being voted out of the game. We are more than a third of a way done with the castaways' thirty-nine day adventure and it is not even December yet compared to the last story.**

**I don't actually have that much to say here because for the most part, everything was already said in the ending author's note in the last chapter, so here goes I guess...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 14**

* * *

In disappointment, Shulk, Knuckles, Shadow, Krystal, and Mega Man returned back to their beach.

"Maybe if our pole was a bit stronger..." said Mega.

"I agree..." Shulk nodded. "...But, at least it doesn't mean that we're just gonna lose the rest of the challenges here. We can still win."

_"Of course, the emperors are as disappointed as we are." Krystal pointed out. "The three of them were acting as if it's an easy fix after their loss, because they know that since they have the majority, then don't have that much to worry about. Since one of us might be going home, with Marth being the replacement for one of us, then that gives them even more room to work with. So basically, it doesn't even matter if they lose the next immunity challenge since somebody from my alliance would still be on this tribe that will be picked off."  
_

She was having a side conversation with Knuckles who had folded arms out of annoyance shaking his head.

"I just don't understand how they can just brush it off like that..."

"Because they have the majority." Krystal answered them. "We have the majority overall, but not on this tribe. It's natural that one of us is gonna get the boot tonight. Most likely it's me, since you're the one that's stronger than me in the challenges. If this tribe was to lose all three of them, than I'd be the most logical choice to increase their chances of winning."

"Sucks, man..."

"Hey, you know what they always say: we may be down, but we're not going down without a fight, _especially _since we were put on the Knights tribe. Do you know for certain that it's me tonight?"

_"My own husband, Fox McCloud competed on last season, and me and my son were talking about him every single day until he came back. And when he came back, he didn't even tell either of us how far he gotten in Kodai Island, but if he didn't win, then at least one of us has to. I didn't leave my family, nor my research to find out what happened to my home planet and not play this game to win a million dollars. I'm in a tight spot, and somehow, someway, I am going to make sure I don't go home. I was playing a quiet game at first, but since I could be the target for the night, now's the time to start playing a little more aggressively."_

"Well,..." Knuckles took a moment. "me and Shadow _did_ have a talk a while ago. He told me that since I'm stronger than you in challenges (no offense), then it wouldn't be the best idea of keeping you around."

"...Well, I guess that confirms it, then..." She stared off for a second. "Since getting rid of a weak link would satisfy _their_ alliance, then I guess we're gonna do the same thing."

_"Krystal wants us both to stick together so that we can continue to live up to our name." Knuckles explained leaning his right arm against the tree. "I was throwing her under the bus earlier with my talk with Shadow, but some part of what she said had me thinking... If Krystal goes, than if we lose another challenge, I'm the next one on the chopping block. I don't think they would vote off Marth (who mostly has an idol) this early when they need numbers for the merge. So since I'm the exact opposite of a quitter, I feel like that now's the time to start strategizing with Shadow the Hedgehog just for the sake of both our games here. He was on the outs of the Emperors tribe, I was on the outs of the Knights tribe. I think that if we can keep each other here, we would probably trust each other more than our own starting tribes..."_

-/-

"Do you think this three is tight?"

Mega Man was walking with Shulk and Shadow in the forest.

"I think we are." Shulk replied with Shadow nodding in agreement.

"As long as we know who the person should be going home, then I have no problems. We vote out Krystal tonight, then we would hopefully win more challenges."

_"So yesterday, Shadow told me and Mega Man that apparently Knuckles was on the outs on the Chatan tribe." Shulk informed. "The knights wanted to stay together and remained a solidified unit by making the safe move to send either him or Rouge home, and Knuckles won with everybody over there, and now he's stuck with Krystal who was in the majority. They're trying their best to stay unified as long as possible. ...But, I can't believe I am saying this, but I think I gotta think like Ghirahim and Shadow here. Not only that Krystal is the weakest of all of us, I feel as if we vote out Krystal who was in the majority on old Chatan, maybe it'll be more likely for the knights to fall apart, so that the emperors would be more likely to have the majority come the merge."_

"I feel like the three of us really need each other." He continued. "I feel like if we vote off a knight now, and if we lose, then we at least have another person to get rid of. We'll decide what to do about Marth and the possible idol he has later, because I know that he would eventually become dangerous."

"Knuckles seems that he would become annoyed easily if he's not already." Mega Man added. "He seems to hate losing. I wouldn't be surprised if he's willing to put Krystal's name down because even he knows that she's the weakest of the two. If he himself was Krystal, than of course it would be a different story, so be prepared for her if she attempts to pit us against each other..."

_"This is the part of the game where you're with the minority of a tribe, while the rest are in the majority." said Mega Man. "I've seen certain seasons to where people from the majority flip on one another, so I wanted to tell Shulk and Shadow that it's best for us to prepare for both Krystal and Knuckles, because if they're that desperate, they would do everything in their power for one of us to backstab the other. But I trust Shadow, and we need Shulk for challenges. So I doubt it's a smart idea for me to turn on one of them."_

-/-

"Hey, man..."

Shadow managed to find Knuckles sitting in the sand near the tribe flag. Though, the hedgehog chose to head straight into business, rather than greeting him back.

"You still plan on writing down Krystal?"

"...Uh, yeah. About that..."

He already widened his eyes in reaction.

_"I thought that I was only gonna care about myself out here after I was obviously on the bottom of my old tribe," Knuckles was now in the forest. "but at this point if I was still solely only caring about myself, then that means that I have to keep Krystal."_

"Okay, not trying to cause chaos for you three or anything, but if you wanna work with me like you said you were, then Krystal needs to stay here..."

"..."

"Lemme tell you why..." He began to elaborate. "So these days in Survivor when you have twenty people here in the game, the merge is at thirteen. That means that after this, we have two more immunity challenges to get through, with three different tribes. This is the only team you have a bigger chance of being safe than Chatan and Motobu, but say if you vote Krystal out now, that leaves even less options for me. Marth, who's also an emperor, and who was also in the majority does not help since he will be part of this tribe tonight."

"..." Shadow slightly cocked his head to the side.

"I mean, if I was in your shoes right now, I'd go ahead and sacrifice one of the other two that are with you at this moment just to keep you in the game. I don't wanna have to end up working with the rest of the team knowing that I might get out at eighth place because I would be the default person to leave since the rest of the team trusts each other a hundred and ten percent."

"...So you're saying that it's actually crucial to keep Krystal to increase our chances of working together in the long run?"

"_Absolutely_."

"Hmm..." Shadow looked off to the side. "It seems rather foolish for me to do knowing that Mega Man and Shulk are two of the few people that would work with me late merge."

"People can change their minds just like that." Knuckles snapped his finger. "You never know. They could end up subtly throwing you back under the bus and you're outta here. We're at a point to where if you wait to late to change your fate in the game, I'd rather strike now then wait all the way up until the point where you have no other options because of you being in hot water, because of you not doing anything. I'd work with you Shadow, but if I'm gone, that's it. We don't have as big of a chance of making it far..."

"And besides, like I said, it seems right for us working together since we both know our positions in our old tribes. ...And coming from you of all people, I'd honestly be pretty disappointed if you are actually the type of person that would stick with the emperors the entire time and go out in eighth place, rather than increase your chances of winning the game..."

"..."

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 14**

* * *

Shulk, Shadow, Mega Man, Krystal, and Knuckles all entered the Tribal Council area one by one as Master Hand waited for the quintet of survivors to sit themselves down.

"We'll now bring in Marth returning to Exile Island."

They all stared as Marth Lowell from the land of Altea entered the tribal with a satisfied grin on his face, signaling that he was more than happy to be a part of a tribe soon. He made his way over the jury bench to the right of the players and sat himself down in the middle.

"Marth is just here to observe." Master Hand wanted to make himself clear. "He is here to gather intel of whatever events have occurred while he was away so that he would be aware of what to expect when he joins your team... Alright, so, aside from Marth going to exile, judging by how the swap worked, it seems that the knights have won the favor, and in the case, the emperors are the ones that ended up having the majority on this beach."

Shulk nodded.

"Shulk, let's push alliances to the side for a bit." The hand made a motion. "Are there any certain differences that you have noticed after Knuckles and Krystal stepped foot on the island?"

"Well, it seems to me that they both communicate with each other very well whenever they are working together around the camp." He explained his observations. "Most likely their whole tribe's main focus was all about hard work and communication. But the real priority for them was probably all about sticking together as a unified team. From what we gathered and inferred, Cloud was simply the one person who was not meshing well with the rest of the tribe, and he got sent home, despite being the biggest physical competitor of that group, which to be honest, it would have been interesting to see if I was watching it from back home."

"And then, you guys voted out Ghirahim."

Both Knuckles and Krystal laughed immediately in reaction.

"..._Yeah_..." Shulk could not have helped but smirk. "I will admit that we followed to what they did what was best for their tribe, and so, taking a little bit of advice was not anything wrong, because we felt that Ghirahm was a bit too aggressive to keep around."

"Krystal, do you feel as if it is satisfying watching the emperors seemingly applying the same strategy your tribe did before the swap by getting rid of your strongest?"

"Well, short-term people at home were probably thinking that we were so bad at playing the game at the time by getting rid of someone like that, but long-term, not only we won the next challenge, but when we looked over, the emperors literally did the exact same thing. So the more it goes on, the more we feel as if voting Cloud out was the right decision for the tribe."

"Okay, so..." Master Hand then went back to the topic of alliances. "How is the tribe voting this time? Will it based off the strength people have in the challenges, or is it you versus Knuckles since old Nago leads 3-2?"

"Well, you can't even blame them for targeting me and Knuckles for obvious reasons, but it doesn't mean me and Knuckles are gonna give up so easily." The vixen shook her head. "If both of us have the chance of staying in the game, we need play every card in the book if it's the only way both of our torches left tribal lit tonight."

"Master Hand, I'm the type of person that is not used to going down so easily." Knuckles was shaking his head. "Where I'm come from, if I don't give it my all when it comes to anything, then I feel like I've accomplished nothing. Me and Krystal aren't just gonna sit here and let ourselves get picked off one by one, since if we're both gone, that's two knights, too many, and then the rest of the tribe is at the bottom at the merge."

"So you two clearly have no intentions on voting against each other, especially due to Marth, who's also an emperor, sitting over there."

Marth was the master point directly at him.

"It would be foolish of us to do so at this moment, unless long term, we want to screw over the rest of old Chatan."

"Shadow, if those two have made it clear that one of you is going to have your name written down on the piece of parchment, that means you three pretty much have to vote in the same direction. There isn't enough room for you all to split the vote."

He bobbed his head up and down. "Indeed you are correct. We have Krystal who is the weakest of the five versus Knuckles, which the word 'quitting' not being in his everyday vernacular. However, if anything, then that makes him a threat."

The red anthropomorphic animal immediately shifted his head.

"He could also be a physical competitor later down the road, yet Krystal could be a long term social threat that would win the jury over. That being said, both of them for all we know are just as threatening in their own way. We just simply have to decide who is more risky to keep around at this moment based upon multiple factors at this Tribal Council."

"So Mega Man, for this vote, we have three emperors versus three knights." Master Hand opened his hand out. "The emperors want to dominate this Tribal Council while the knights want to fight and give it their all so that they can stay alive. What exactly do you make it that?"

"In my opinion, I think that if you were watching at home, this would basically be the perfect tribe to head to Tribal Council first, solely based on what you just said. It's kind of an interesting situation. The emperors are trying to find out how we can leave out of here unscathed by doing whatever needs to get done no matter what, and you have the knights getting by with the skin of their teeth pushing as hard as possible. ...You know, for me in particular, I wouldn't be surprised if people that know me from home would classify me as both an emperor and a knight based on what I do, and I wouldn't have been mad at them either way."

"But at the same time, you were chosen to be on this tribe." The hand reminded. "Therefore, you would presumably have more qualities of an emperor, rather than a knight."

"I guess that makes sense. The twenty people that are competing in this season have their own ways of being on a certain tribe..." He felt that the host of the show had a valid point. "That being said, since I'm an emperor now, I think it would be safe to assume that Knuckles and Krystal would be trying to pit us against each other so that the both of them make it out of here in one piece."

"Shulk, you're nodding in agreement."

"It's very likely that it's what they're trying to do, since one of us would be getting the votes from them." His eyes pointed at the two one by one. "I haven't heard anything from either of the two, but if it's what they're doing behind the scenes, then I'm not surprised. The only other way one of us would be going home is if there's an idol in play."

Marth blinked.

"But like you said from before, there's not enough room for us to split the votes, unless one of them plays the idol correctly, which means that we also have to take that as another factor when it comes to how we are gonna vote tonight. For me, Shadow, and Mega Man, we just have to stick together just like they're sticking together."

Knuckles stared as Krystal blinked.

"Alright, well let's see how this very significant vote is going to play out." Master Hand began the voting session. "Krystal, you're up."

The only female of the team rose from her spot and made her way past Marth to the voting area, Shulk being the next to go afterwards followed by Shadow, then Mega Man.

"I'm sorry. Sometimes one swap can mean anything, and unfortunately it just didn't work in your favor and fate chose this tribe to attend the tribal tonight. Wish you the best of luck."

Once the echidna of the red team cast his vote, he sat down, subsequently folding his arms.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Marth eyed the master making his way past him as both Krystal and Knuckles exchanged glances.

"Whatever happens, it was worth a try..." Knuckles whispered.

Master Hand came back with the urn.

"If anybody _does_ have the hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

...

Marth just stared as he waited.

"Okay. Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

He uncapped the urn.

"First vote... Mega Man."

He lowered his head down a little with a blink.

Marth actually had his eyes widened slightly, but shifted his focus back to Master Hand.

Knuckles had a finger beneath his chin.

"Krystal."

She sighed and slowly turned her head side to side.

"One vote Krystal, one vote Mega Man."

Knuckles leaned over and placed a hand on her shoulder for a quick second.

"Krystal."

She was more than nervous as she brought her hand to her chin in attempt to calm herself down.

"Two votes Krystal, one vote Mega Man."

Shadow the Hedgehog stared at Krystal diagonally from his left seeing her worried expression as Shulk simply sat straight.

"Mega Man."

He made no movement.

"Two votes Mega Man, two votes Krystal, one vote left..."

Knuckles began to stare down as Krystal closed her eyes, Marth alternating his eyes between the tribe and the large, white-gloved hand.

He took his time pulling out the fifth and final vote for the night.

"Fifth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights..."

"...Mega Man."

The blue bomber's jaw immediately dropped, Shulk almost instantly glancing all over the place, with Marth sitting tall with his mouth hanging.

"You need to bring me your torch..."

"..."

After sitting still simply eyeing Master Hand placed down the vote, he hesitantly got up from his spot, no words escaping as his face lacked any sort of emotion at all.

Krystal meanwhile faced Knuckles with the most satisfied grin as the echidna smirked in response.

Shulk on the other hand turned to Shadow who remained eyeing Mega.

"Mega Man, the tribe has spoken."

He watched his torch being snuffed.

"Time for you to go."

Again, no words, no emotions, nothing. Just a straight look as he began to walk and head down the stairs.

"...What?" Shulk whispered as he resumed shifting his head in all directions, Marth at that point clapping a hand over his mouth.

Shadow never looked back at Shulk at that moment.

"Well..." Master Hand had to think of what words to say. "Even though sticking together were the two magic words here, it seems that to someone, maybe sticking together for some reason wasn't the best option."

The black Mobian blinked.

"You can grab your torches to head back to camp, and Marth will join you shortly."

Marth could not have believed what he just witnessed as he managed to exchange a quick stare with Shulk, ignore Knuckles and Krystal who were still holding their satisfied smiles before the five of them carefully stepped their way down the stairs.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Shadow**** \- Mega Man**

**Mega Man**** \- Krystal**

**Shulk**** \- Krystal**

**Krystal**** \- Mega Man**

**Knuckles**** \- Mega Man**

_**16th Place: **_**Mega Man**

* * *

_"I... I just can't believe it. ...Shadow... apparently turned on me. ...You know... I... I'm not mad at him or anything, just confused. What did I do to him that made him flip? I really thought he felt that I was close with him. ...Guess you literally can't trust anyone out here no matter what..."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Marth, Shadow, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda, Pac-Man / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy**

* * *

**Wow... I...**

**...Just, wow. The one person that absolutely wanted Shadow the Hedgehog to stay in the game as long as possible, and Shadow turned on him and voted him out. ...I... think we should just head right into the questions...**

**Questions:**

**1\. So looking back on the chapter before Tribal Council took place, do you think Shadow had a valid reason to flip based on the circumstances and how things were going?**

**2\. On a scale of one to ten, how ticked off do you think Shulk and Marth would be?**

**I guess besides Shadow himself, maybe Knuckles deserves to share the credit with him as well, since he was the one that helped convinced Shadow to flip.**

**Watch my YouTube intro and vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	18. Chapter 18: Day 15 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 18 - Day 15 Part 1

**Dang, five people from the game being gone already? Time for sure is flying fast in comparison to the upload schedule to the previous season.**

**So yeah, Mega Man's blindside is without question the biggest blindside so far in spite of Nago only having five people. I can just imagine how literally everybody else will react to this vote off from the other tribes. So I guess Pac-Man is forced to see a future without Mega at this point lol.**

**Oh well. At least he's been replaced with Marth.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Nago**

**Night 14**

* * *

After Shulk, Shadow, Krystal, and Mega Man all lied down their torches against the tree, none of them even had a moment to talk as a group as Shulk chose to pull Shadow aside and immediately separate themselves from Knuckles and Krystal, which caused some eyebrow raising, but the two of them found it to be sort of amusing.

Krystal giggled. "Well?"

"Psh..." Knuckles shook his head with a giant smirk. "_Well_, we're both still here. We made it."

"Aww, haha!" The vixen shared a friendly hugged with the echidna. "We're on the bottom, but overall, our tribe _still_ has the advantage."

_"Shadow followed through." Knuckles was pleased. "I gave him a logical explanation to why it makes sense for him to flip against his alliance due to where he stood with the tribe prior to the swap. If he's willing to sacrifice one of his own to make it as far as he can with me due to us both being in the same boat, then I don't see why I would waste an opportunity to work with him later down the road. ...And Krystal of course was happy, but I chose not to tell her why Shadow flipped exactly since she's not part of it."_

"Shadow knew that he didn't get along with the rest of them." He said. "I told him that Shulk and Mega Man were probably gonna make plans of somehow taking him out in the future right before the merge if they ended up having just enough room to make a big move, but now since the emperors are down one member too many, they can't get rid of him anymore."

_"Nothing against Krystal personally, but I don't see her trying to get that close with me as some of the other on my old tribe, and if I can trust Shadow way more than I can trust Krystal of all people, who I've known for fourteen days, that's saying something."_

-/-

"Okay, I just want to know your side first so that I can have an understanding of your vote for Mega."

_"Shadow out of nowhere blindsided me and turned on Mega Man." He had a million thoughts running through his head right now. "I... I am at a loss for words. The one tribe we have the majority on, and we happened to be the ones that went to tribal for the one chance we had to get rid of one of those knights, and we blew it. Now Marth is gonna come here wondering what the heck happened, and I can just imagine how the rest of the tribe will look when they find out..."_

"I mean, I thought the three of us we're really tight here, especially me and you because we were both put together thanks to Ghirahim and I felt that I was even closer with you than Mega Man who was supposedly part of that alliance..." He began digging through his hair out of distress. "I... Can you just tell me...?"

"I just didn't trust him enough. He was kind of the strategic threat I needed to look out for, and I didn't want him to turn on me..."

"...Well did you think it would have hurt if you would have at least talked to me about it?" Shulk was not exactly buying it. "You're flipping on your allies a little too early. I'm... I'm just _trying_ to understand where you're coming from..."

_"I hate to admit, but I was so focused on working with Knuckles, I kind of forgot what I was supposed to tell Shulk, since I couldn't exactly **hide** the blindside or anything." Shadow sat near the water. "But for Mega in particular, it was nothing against him at all. Being a strategic player had nothing to do with why he was voted out, and his possible relationship is a hundred and ten percent irrelevant. Of course I wanted to continue to win challenges, but I trust Knuckles more than most of my fellow emperors who I started off with. Mega Man was the weakest of the three of us, but most of all, Marth is coming soon, which was the biggest reason to why I had to turn on possibly my number one ally. And when Marth comes back, the emperors still have the majority, anyway. So if anything, I felt that if was a perfect time to strike."_

Now Lowell not only returned to the camp, but made his way to find Shulk and Shadow, who he of course wanted to talk to, anyway.

"..."

Shadow found himself basically in a staring contest with the Altea hero. "...?"

"...Shadow..." He finally spoke. "...Why?"

"It was the right thing to do for me personally. I felt that Mega would have probably ran the show."

"...He was fine to me..." Shulk replied.

_"I knew Shadow was probably going to be rather untrustworthy... But not **this** early out here..." The blue-haired warrior covered his face with his hands. "...What are we going to tell Pac-Man, Zelda, Roy, and Freddy?"_

* * *

**Chatan**

**Night 14**

* * *

"Hey, Pac-Man, do you think the ghosts are gonna come out and get us tonight?"

"Hahaha, no. I don't even think they know that I'm even out here. But say if they were, then it looks like we officially have to fight on Survivor, and that has never even happened before."

The Chatan tribe was doing nothing other than talking among themselves by the fire that sat before them. They had wood stored beneath the shelter just in case if Chatan receives unexpected precipitation, considering the fact that it had been sunny for the past few days.

"Well, that means if they do come out here, I won't let you fight alone." Greninja commented. "I've been training with Calem for basically forever, and I use water as a weapon, so you can count on me for anything."

"Um, I would not exactly say using water would be the best idea for defense." Sheik opinionated. "Our best bet would be that maybe we can grab one of our torches, and threaten them with the fire so that it can just scare them away. Maybe that's how real tribes do."

Greninja snickered. "They're ghosts. Ghosts aren't afraid of anything. We would probably have no choice but to use brute force..."

"I think that's a good point. Where is Knuckles when you need him?"

"..." an amused Greninja blinked. "You're saying that I'm not that strong? I mean, I can fight, too."

"Oh, stop being jealous. You know I'm messing with you." Sheik playfully nudged his arm with his fist as they both shared a laugh.

Bonnie was mostly silent throughout the conversation, since Zelda was beginning to doze off.

_"You know it's interesting that both Knuckles and Rouge were left out of the vote last week, but Greninja and Sheik are basically Knuckles and Rouge 2.0 without the flirtiness. The more they bond with each other, the more my mind's picking at me to get rid of one of them, especially since neither of them are bonding with me the way they are bonding with each other. All types of power couples are a no-no, and I don't think either of them realize that in the back of my mind, I can not have that around for my game. Though at the same time, I have no idea who just been sent home from Nago, so as of now, my mind is all over the place..."_

* * *

**Day 15**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

Roy, Luigi, Freddy, Shovel Knight, and Foxy all made their way through the sand and stepped onto the orange mat with Freddy setting Motobu's flag down. Greninja, Bonnie, Pac-Man, Zelda, and Sheik all came by next with Bonnie setting his flag down for Chatan.

"Motobu, Chatan, get your first look at the new Nago tribe..."

"...Wait, what?" said Sheik, Zelda gasping.

Pac-Man was ultimately speechless.

"Mega Man voted out at the last Tribal Council."

"Woah..." Greninja blinked, Freddy too shocked to do the same.

"What the heck happened?" Bonnie was confused as ever as Pac-Man was as still as a statue, no one being even more dumbfounded than him.

"He has been replaced by Marth returning from Exile Island." Master Hand announced, watching him, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles, and Shadow making their way to the red mat with Shulk setting down the flag.

"Alright, you guys ready for today's reward challenge?"

They were ready as they ever were.

"For today's challenge, your feet will be tied together. Your arms will be bound to your side."

"..." Luigi blinked his eyes upon hearing that. To him it was something that sounded rather strange.

"On my go, you will slither through the sand while pushing a ball relay style through the course. When you're finished, the remaining tribe members will shoot five balls into your basket. First two tribes that finish, win reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"The tribe that finishes first will win..." Master Hand removed the first cloth to reveal. "Iced coffee, several different types of pastries, and even coffee and tea to last a little while at the camp."

Judging by the big reaction from the three tribes, it was by far the biggest reward yet.

"Second tribe to finish will get not as much, but just enough." He pulled another piece of cloth. "Iced coffee that will be enough to go around."

"I can live with that." said Foxy.

"Last place gets..." Master Hand pointed at Krystal.

"_Nothin_.'"

"That's correct. I'll give you all a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For reward in the form of tea, coffee, and pastries. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

Krystal, Zelda, and Shovel Knight all drop their bodies to the ground as they pushing their respective ball through the sand with their head, slithering all the while using every bit of strength they had.

"This challenge was first used in Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, and we simply decided to bring it back." Master Hand explained. "Shovel Knight is off to an early lead over Krystal and Zelda, but Krystal is fighting!"

"You can do it, Krystal!" Shulk yelled.

In spite of Shovel Knight attempting at his best with the ball, Krystal actually pulled ahead of Shovel Knight stealing the lead as Zelda used all her might to control her ball.

"Zelda trying to not be out of it early!"

By the time she was a bit more than halfway there, with sand all over their faces, Krystal and Shovel Knight reached their first mat about the same time.

"Go, Nago! Go, Motobu!"

"Don't give up, Zelda!" Greninja shouted. "You're almost there!"

"You gotta touch the mat with your head... Go, Nago!"

At that point, it was Marth versus Luigi versus Pac-Man, the green plumber falling on his stomach perfectly. Fortunately for Chatan, of the three that were competing against each other, the yellow emperor of all people managed to tie it up as he made up a lot of time from Zelda, eventually causing him to pull ahead of Marth and Luigi, the latter now being right on his tail.

Pac-Man pushed the ball enough to cause it to roll downhill on its own.

"Now it's time for Pac-Man get over the first hill!"

"Woah... _oof_!"

Not the most comfortable for Pac-Man, yet at least that big push was worth enough to get him to stay in the lead as both Luigi and Marth continued to use small strokes to get by.

Marth was growing tired a bit though, as they ball was now on his left shoulder, rather being in front of his face.

"Marth's in an awkward spot..."

Luigi was now at the bottom of his hill, shaking his head a little to get rid of some of the sand from his eyes so he could see.

"..." Grunting, Marth decided to rotate his body a bit so that he could push the ball down the hill sideways, dreading the possibility of the ball rolling off course.

Then when he had to get over the hill himself, he literally ended up rolling all the way down.

Roy who was watching from his own position could not have helped but laugh.

"Let your head touch the mat, Pac!" Sheik was waiting for her turn.

"You're good, Chatan! ...You're good, Motobu!"

With one final big push, Marth's head immediately dropped on his mat out of exhaustion.

"You're good, Nago! It is now Sheik versus Roy versus Shadow..." Master Hand noted. "And Shadow is tearing it up!"

Shadow the Hedgehog was acting as if he competed in the olympics by performing in that particular challenge a dozen of times. He was nearing the hill where as Roy and Sheik were only halfway to it, the latter though pushing as hard as she could have.

"You got this, Roy!" said Luigi, now sitting on his heels as he knees sat in the sand.

Shadow grunted loudly as he pushed himself over, tumbling down the hill in a similar fashion to Marth.

"Nago starting to git a bit of a lead as Shadow continues to tear the course up! Sheik not that far behind as she pushes her ball over!"

"Don't rush, Sheik!" Bonnie from the beginning platform had his hands over his mouth. "No pressure!"

Everyone at the time seemed to be doing a good job with the ball never going off course in spite of there being a first and last place competitor at the time. Yet since there was, Shadow placed his hand on the mat with the ball directly in front of him.

"Nago's good!"

And so, Knuckles and Shulk immediately dashed out to help their tribemates while they all attempted to unstrap themselves.

"Sheik getting over the hill!"

Roy was getting close as well, though his head gave out during the last few moments the ball needed to roll down the hill. Thus, it ended up going sideways near Chatan's course instead.

"Roy _loses_ the ball for Motobu!"

Foxy turned around and faced away as Freddy cocked his head to the side, his mind assuming that there was a chance that none of them were going to get coffee that day.

"Sheik's good! Go, Chatan!"

As Bonnie and Greninja began to help out their tribemates, Knuckles was already attempting at baskets. Though unlike previous, the goal was much higher than before, so there was no way Knuckles could have shot at the basket as he did before, especially considering that he was not as tall as Shulk was. As a result, the human volunteered to shoot for the time being instead.

"Roy is still fighting even though he caused his team a massive setback... Gotta get over..."

Unlike last time, Roy managed to do so successfully.

"Bonnie scores the first basket for Chatan... Shulk scores the first basket for Nago! We have a _showdown_!"

"Shulk, lemme know if you wanna switch back..." Knuckles had his eyes on the basket.

"No pressure." said Krystal.

"Bonnie scores another one for Chatan!"

He looked over to Greninja. "Wanna give it a try?"

"You're taller than me. Keep going."

"Keep pushing, Roy! Almost there!" Freddy shouted as within a few more seconds, both the ball and Roy were on the orange mat.

"Motobu's good! They're still in this! ...But they gotta _hurry_!"

Indeed the host was right as Shulk scored the second basket for Nago, yet Bonnie quickly managed to get his fourth ball in.

"Shulk, keep going. I don't know if we're gonna win, but I at least don't wanna be last at this point." Knuckles changed his mind on switching.

"Freddy is going to start shooting for Motobu!"

As Shulk scored his third basket, Bonnie shot the winning ball into Chatan's goal.

"_**CHATAN WINS**** REWARD!**_"

"We are looking for second place!" Master Hand called as Freddy made his first basket on his first go. Though on his second, he was in and out.

"Shulk scores the fourth basket for Nago! One ball left!"

Luigi at that point lost all remaining hope he had left. "We might have to eat all the coconuts at the camp..."

"_**NAGO WINS REWARD!**_"

Roy shook his head out of disappointment with his head hung down low.

"Chatan, come get your reward and head back to camp. Enjoy."

With a few claps, each of the five carried some part of their reward as they began to make their way back to camp.

"Nago, at least you still got your jug of iced coffee. Come and get it."

"I'll take care of it." Knuckles volunteered as he picked up the jug and left with the rest of his tribe.

Roy was still disappointed at the results of the challenge.

"Motobu, got nothing for you. Grab your stuff and head back to camp."

_"It doesn't matter if it was for immunity or not. As an emperor, you are not used to letting your team down, and I'm afraid I have done so today and cost the team of getting any part of that reward. My head just didn't have enough strength to get that ball over the hill in the beginning. I'm already on the bottom, and now I cost us the challenge. And so, if challenges are a priority for this tribe, since I'm weaker than Freddy, then that means that I'm in danger of being the next to be sent home..."_

* * *

**RIP - Rudy Boesch (Survivor Season 1 - Borneo**

* * *

**So swapped Chatan is winning the most so far in challenges, and Nago and Motobu are dead even since they both won one challenge and lost one challenge. And maybe Motobu would have had a fighting chance if Roy never lost the ball, so now he's going to feel down about. You can't even blame him since if you know you're the reason to why your team lost, who wouldn't feel terrible? lol**

**Questions:**

**1\. How terrible would you feel if you know you cost your team a challenge?**

**2\. What are your predictions for Pac-Man's reaction seeing Mega Man gone (who he _thought_ he was his number one ally out of the game)?**

**3\. How would Mega Man's departure impact the rest of the game?**

**As usual, vote on your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you on Wednesday!**


	19. Chapter 19: Day 15 Pt 2 & Day 16 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 19 - Day 15 Part 2 & Day 16 Part 1

**Alright, we're more of a third of a way through this game. Five people are gone, and now the three tribes are even due to Marth joining Nago, and now they plus Chatan won iced coffee. But unfortunately, Motobu didn't get anything.**

**Now since I have room to talk about something else, I guess I can reveal another small detail about my next season, already previously revealing that it is going to be in a different location. And that is next time, there would be eighteen castaways instead of twenty.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Motobu**

**Day 15**

* * *

Freddy, Luigi, Shovel Knight, Roy, and Foxy all returned back to camp with their heads down, ignoring the more cloudy weather that was growing as the hours went on.

"I'm sorry, guys..." Roy was already talking.

"Dude, no need to apologize over here." Foxy held his hand out. "You've only made one mistake. You gave it everything you had, and you were willingly wanting to do the hardest part of that challenge. That wasn't the first reward and it's not gonna be the last."

"It could still be the one reward some of you guys would have needed."

"Well, I didn't do anything at the challenge today." The red anthropomorphic animal reminded. "You certainly did more than I did, and your efforts alone speaks for it all. You still did a good job."

"I still didn't get it over that hill though, and I cost this team quite a bit of time." Roy was still not looking up. "I know any of you would have been my shoes for the slithering portion, but since I was the one who took that position, we paid the price in the end because of my mistake. Not to say that nobody is allowed to make a mistake for anything, but it still happened and facts are facts, and I apologize for it."

Shovel Knight put a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over it. We might have lost coffee and pastries today, but at least it wasn't an immunity challenge where we need it the most. We can just act as if it is just another day."

"I know how you feel." Luigi added. "I remember back on the first challenge I was struggling a little bit, so I can relate. No need to feel sad because that will make me sad right now..."

_"For me it doesn't matter if it was for reward and immunity. When you've realized that you let your team down, or at least know that you are the reason to why the results were the way they were today, you can not help but feel guilty. ...You know, I've stated before that I had to prevent an entire war from occurring when I was just fifteen, so I had to constantly help take care of everyone in my army. ...I can't even describe what I had to go through..." Roy actually let tears roll down his face. _

_"The fear of losing someone in your army is bad enough, knowing that you were the leader during it all, and the feeling of guilt that things could have been different in such a way, especially for a... 'Young Lion' such as myself. And so, losing the reward challenge today just reminded me of what it was like when you are the one that had to control everything when your own father wasn't able to. I had to step up for my father, I had to step up for army, and the lands of Lycia. Such enormous pressure takes quite the toll on you, especially since I wasn't even an adult at the time... Though in spite of all this, I guess accomplishing many things at such an early age is something to be proud of. Although,... there is always the fear of things not going your way when it comes to anything, especially when you realize that it is none other than your own fault... I do not blame anyone who hates losing, that is for sure..."_

He was now sitting down near the water with Freddy.

"I mean, even though I was known for my accomplishments back in my home world, ones such as myself I suppose are still fearful of what can occur if you lose, knowing that you have such a large amount of weight on your shoulders, and that if you mess up once, the consequence for making only one mistake can still be severe, and you have no one to blame but yourself. Though it is a feeling I am not used to, you still fear of the possibility of that happening."

Freddy's arm was around his shoulder.

"And the worst thing is that since I helped Motobu... _lose_ the challenge today, I'm already on the outs, and even though those three are telling me to not beat myself up over it, they could be talking behind our backs right now using this as a big reason to why I should be kicked out and get my torch snuffed _because_ of the one mistake I made." He wiped a tear from his right eye and sniffed. "And even if I'm somehow still here, say if we go to Tribal Council, I do not want to screw you over as well because I may very well mess up again. I don't want to hurt your game, Freddy. I want us both to at least make the merge."

"You're not. Don't worry..." He shook his head in disagreement and the two embraced. "We'll make it. Even if we are going to tribal, we have to plan ahead and think about what we can do. Just stay focused. You can do and get through everything if you set your mind to it."

_"It's amazing of what Roy has done before coming out here even though he's so young." Freddy took a moment to honor his accomplishments in life. "I mean, when I was eighteen I was just trying to figure out on what I was gonna do for the rest of my life... by hiring a team to make pizzas for people... But with that being said, I think that Roy can inspire other teenagers like himself that if he can get through what he had to go through back in the day, people like him can get through anything. And so if anything, he's helping me have even more motivation to stick it out here so that I can help him."_

"Our best bet _of course_ is to win immunity since it's a much higher priority than winning rewards, but even if we lose, then we'll both die as heroes for trying our hardest, and that's the only way we can look at it."

_"And, um..." Now it was him that was starting to feel guilty, his head hanging down being enough to give a sign. "...I really feel like the bad guy here, but not using the perfect opportunity to reveal to him that I have an idol that I found during the last immunity challenge. But, sometimes people go home in Survivor for giving away to much information. And in a selfish game like this when you want the million dollars as well as being the title of Sole Survivor, sometimes the right thing to do is to keep your mouth shut as much as possible, unless you have perfectly valid reason to why it is necessary to reveal you have an idol... Though of course the hardest part is deciding for yourself when is it the perfect time. Maybe I'll tell Roy later, maybe I won't... I haven't even told Foxy..."_

-/-

"Okay, no offense to Roy or Freddy or anything, but those two are down at the beach right now talking it out, and us three are standing right here..."

Foxy remained at the shelter with Shovel Knight and Luigi.

"I mean, what are we gonna do if one of them has an idol?"

"Hmm..." That also had Shovel Knight thinking. "You think one of them haven't found it, yet? I think we did a good job watching over the both of them. We watched them in a single group when we needed to, and we separated ourselves at the most perfect moments."

"They could get sneaky, though." Foxy reminded. "If they're gonna try to find it, we need to find it before they do, or else the people would bring that idol to the merge with more than a dozen people."

"But, who do you think should get the boot if we have to go?" asked Luigi. "The knights are the ones that have the chance to keep their numbers advantage right now."

"I'd go with Roy." Foxy suggested. "...But I wanna hear opinions from the both of you first..."

"Okay." Shovel Knight nodded. "So basically, I've had conversations with some of you from the old Chatan tribe, and at this point, these are probably the last two Tribal Councils before the merge. I doubt Master Hand will confirm anything for business reasons, but if it is at thirteen, then it doesn't matter if we lose, since at least one of them would be gone, anyway. This is our chance."

"I agree." Luigi bobbed his head up and down. "The knights are actually the ones that have the majority here thanks to Mega Man leaving, and if we vote off a knight now, and if Nago ends up going to tribal again, Knuckles or Krystal could be going home. I think it's best for us that if we vote out another emperor next, this game would be ours."

"Which one, though?"

"Roy and Freddy could both be threatening in the future for different reasons." said Shovel Knight. "Though even though Roy is long term, Freddy is an immediate threat since he could be stronger in the individual challenges... Maybe it's best for us to write down Freddy... even though I am quite fond of him..."

"I haven't talked to Roy that much." Luigi admitted with a head shake. "But based on what happened today and how he's feeling right now,... I actually hope we win because I get to talk to him a little more, since I know how it feels being the underdog here."

_"Roy has literally no connections on this tribe." Foxy talked. "However, Luigi just blatantly stated that he would like to grow a connection with Roy. Apparently Shovel Knight likes Freddy, and clearly I like the guy, too, and I feel like I need him since I couldn't keep Rouge because I didn't wanna upset the tribe by keeping both her and Knuckles. My main question for myself is how do I balance my social game with my strategic game. There have been many people before me that play too hard, and people that put too much heart in the game resulting in them becoming the goats of the season. So I gotta make sure I do it correctly (hopefully). I need to keep Freddy here since I have a growing bond with him, but I need to figure out how am I supposed to do that if I'm in the majority with Shovel Knight and Luigi who want Freddy out."_

_He then smirked. "Of course I can't just sit here and let Freddy go away. I already purposefully kept my mouth shut since I didn't wanna dictate to everyone or else **I'm **gone, but it looks like I got a subtly fight for Freddy here, and it might take a little bit of lying to save the both of us. ...They say that a pirate never lies, but in this case of course I might have to lie out here."_

* * *

**Chatan**

**Day 15**

* * *

"Pac-Man, slow down! You don't want to eat _too_ much or else you might be throwing up in a little bit..."

"Oh, no, I'm fine! But thanks for checking up on me, Sheik!"

"Just be sure to drink something to wash it down."

Pac-Man, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda, and Sheik were already eating away at their pastries, the former consuming the most, with the rest of the tribe (mainly Sheik) trying their best to slow down Pac-Man consumption process. Though clearly, it was hard for the guy to slow down so easily, especially given the lack of food situation out in the wilderness.

"Oh, by the way, since you're a performer, Bonnie," said Pac-Man. "do you think if someone has musical dreams, and they compete on Survivor, because they will get noticed when the season airs, do you think they have a greater chance of getting into the music business?"

"..." Bonnie eyed him for a bit between bites to think. "Well,... I don't know for certain, though it could be true. I mean, we did have someone from Survivor - Nicaragua that was a growing country musician at the time. Even though he said that it didn't help him, he gained exposure, anyway."

"Maybe you two could collab together!"

He shrugged in reaction. "Maybe we could... after he realizes that I exist."

They both shared a laugh. Though while everyone else was eating the food, none of them bothered to look in Sheik's direction after she ended up picking up a pastry with a piece of paper.

"...?"

Without even thinking twice, she nimbly stuck it beneath her and sat on it.

-/-

"Pac, do you think any of them are following us?"

"Hmm..." Zelda managed to pull Pac-Man to the side and separated themselves from the rest of the group in the forest after Sheik left to some place else. Yet when Pac-Man had a hand over his head as he stopped for a quick second, he saw no one. "...Nnnnope..."

"Then now is a good time to talk... especially after what we both found out this morning..."

"Oh, yes!" Pac-Man nodded rapidly. "I was thinking about it the entire time! I only stopped for a second because... I was hungry!"

_"I was so **shocked** that Mega Man is not in the game anymore! Like... What did he do wrong? ...I don't think he even did anything! I thought for sure he was safe since he was with both Shadow and Shulk, and they all had the majority. So there was no way Mega Man would have left. Did Krystal or Knuckles have an idol or something? ...I don't know if that's even the case because neither of them were on Exile Island. My number one ally is out. **Now** what do I do?"_

"I know we were on separate tribes, but we can't play Survivor without Pac-Man!" He placed his hands on his hand. "What are we gonna do?"

"Stay calm." Zelda motioned him with both her hands. "The knights may have the advantage now, but it doesn't mean that we can't change things around. We need to figure out why Mega Man went home in advance, and we still need to find a crack."

_"Knuckles and Krystal were up against Mega Man, Shadow, and Shulk." Zelda recalled. "I would assume that an idol must have been played, but that is highly unlikely giving the existence of Exile Island. And so if anyone has it, it is Marth who just joined. All this means is that there must have been a flip. I doubt Shulk is the type of person to flip knowing the circumstances and where he stood with his tribe, and of course Mega Man could not have voted for himself because that is actually against the rules. Clearly Shadow is most likely responsible. Though, that leads to even more questions. Why did he flip, and why on Mega in particular? And even if Shadow did not flip, something else must have somehow happened, which I would not even be surprised knowing how Survivor runs. I do not want to jump to conclusions..."_

"We have to watch those three very carefully. If we have to go to tribal, there could be a chance that we can work with someone..." She continued to walk with Pac-Man. "I've noticed that Greninja and Sheik have been growing mighty close, and Bonnie tends to stick to the side and observe us four communicate with one another. I think that maybe if we can swing Bonnie, we can vote one of them out. Not just for us, but for him as well, since I wouldn't be surprised if he also thinks that they're a team."

"...Wow..." Pac-Man blinked. "...You're so smart, Zelda..."

"_Well_," Zelda laughed a little playing with her hair, not knowing exactly how to react. "I... I can say that I am not going to just let us get picked off one by one before the merge. If an emperor goes again, we are not only screwed over, but for the rest of the emperors as well."

_"First I was in danger with Peach on the old Nago tribe, and now I'm on the outs with Pac-Man. But this time in order to make sure I am a hundred percent safe, due to tribal lines taking place at a camp neither me nor Pac-Man was on from the beginning, looks like I need to fight a little harder..."_

-/-

"'Congratulations, you have found an advantage in the game'..."

_"I've forgotten that there was always the chance of a clue to something when you receive a reward." Sheik explained. "It may not have been a clue to an immunity idol, since Shovel Knight already found one here, but at least a Secret Advantage is better than nothing."_

"'Although,'" she read to herself on the beach making sure she was as far away from everyone as possible. "'this advantage is not going to be for you. With this advantage, you are allowed to prevent a player from voting at any future Tribal Council they attend to. This advantage will be given to someone of your choice on one of the other tribes.' ...Oh, _goddesses_..."

_"I never thought that I was going to block someone's vote before. But since I can, I might as well use to the best of my ability. Of course I am not going to block one of the knights votes later down the road, because I need to protect my alliance. So if I'm going to give this to one of the emperors, the question is simply on **who**."_

"Seven emperors left. I need to choose wisely..." Sheik stuffed the advantage in her shirt, beginning to make her way back. "I need to get back to the camp..."

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 15**

* * *

"Slowly... nice and easy... Perfect..."

Marth was helping Shulk and Knuckles poor the iced coffee in each of the group's canteens.

Krystal chuckled. "Clearly you all don't plan on drinking after each other with the jug."

"That is rather..." Marth paused for a moment. "_Unsanitary_..."

"Well," Knuckles shrugged after they were successfully able to fill up all five canteens, subsequently screwing his top in. "If we didn't have these, at least it would have beaten dying of thirst."

"Now none of us have to worry about making a trip to the water well for a while, since the jug is not even half empty." Shulk said.

"Please be sure to keep the top on from the rain and any bugs that are curious." Shadow warned. "There are so many insects and animals out here it's ridiculous... Why do you all think the master allows it?"

"..._Well_," Shulk blinked. "I'm pretty sure he wouldn't let any of us exactly... _die_ on Survivor. We'll be fine. Those pastries Chatan got will be even harder to cover up. ...Then again, they can just use one of those blankets that they earned."

"Even if flies manage to get on them, people have to eat anything on Survivor anyway, just because it's food." Krystal reminded. "Some of them even had to compete in gross food eating challenges, so they make the flies look like nothing."

_"I thought I was going to return to my home tribe with a plan successfully executed for my alliance to remove either Knuckles or Krystal from the game in order to keep our numbers, but then Shadow stabbed Mega Man in the back, and now our chances of not having the numbers at merge increased." Marth shook his head. "I do not think that Shadow realizes that he is going to be the reason to why we would not have our numbers if the knights keep their advantage."_

He found time to lie back in the shelter with Shulk.

"I mean, I am not saying that it is all about us voting them off one by one by one, but it does not mean flip on someone who has done nothing to you. ...I really don't think Mega Man did anything wrong. Right now there are seven emperors, and then there are eight knights. If we mess up again, we are in _grave_ danger."

"I should have known that Shadow was gonna pull something over us, I just didn't know when." Shulk just stared at the ceiling, with was nothing more that bamboo and palm fronds in front of his face. "Shadow is clearly not gonna agree with me, but I don't think it was the right time if he didn't trust Mega for whatever reason. I would have waited until like, merge when we have enough room to work with, ya know? Just to play it safe?"

"...I... I am not bitter towards him or anything... But I... I just don't understand... It is like my own army cannibalizing each other from back home..."

"I see what ya mean. Traitors and back stabbers are a huge no-no where I come from. But... we both know." He turned to him to share a glance.

"It's different out here."

"Exactly."

"It just seems wrong..." Lowell shook his head at the thought. "Like Peach, Mega Man deserved to stay here. Ghirahim was rubbing everyone the wrong way, so he should have took her place. And now this? How does Shadow expect us to trust him from this point? What was he trying to accomplish?"

"I... don't know..." The blonde was now staring above with hands behind his head. "We can't even get rid of him now, because that will just be the shot in the foot we need to lose this game. I'm still trying to make some sort of sense so that Shadow's move would at least be understandable, but I just can't. And at this point, we need to move forward and make the right moves here. Maybe we need to win immunity just so Shadow doesn't get a chance to vote. He already flipped on Mega, now I'm afraid he will turn on one of us if he's with Krystal and Knuckles now..."

_"I think Shadow flipped because he thought he was on the bottom of the emperors. And it may have been true to him, but I was trying to grow closer to Shadow based off our history, and Mega Man was also trying to grow closer to him, so in the long run, we would have ran the show together and might have even gone final three." Shulk was leaning against a rock. "But clearly that's out the window at this point. The only way we would somehow get the advantage over the knights right before the merge is if it is not Emperors vs Knights anymore. And if that's the case, let's just say I am not a hundred percent Team Shadow anymore, and neither is Marth. Now it's time for us to really build new relationships..."_

"Hey, Marth?"

"Yes?"

"Because of what happened, it's giving me more reasons to why I'm glad you're on this tribe." Shulk and the blue-haired swordsman laughed.

* * *

**Day 16**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

Starting with Chatan and finishing with Motobu, the remaining fifteen survivors met up with the host of Survivor, Master Hand, once again, just in time for another immunity challenge.

"You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, I will take back _both _immunity idols."

After taking back the smaller idol from Greninja, he took the larger one away from Luigi.

"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs, and this time,..." He paused for a second. "it is going to be a _blindfold_ challenge."

That earned the biggest mixed reaction from the group thus far. Some were of course excited due to the unknown all around them thanks to the lack of sight. Yet for the same reasons, especially when it comes to bumping into everything that was always unexpectedly two inches away from the face, resulted in some complaints and groans.

Nonetheless, the challenge had to go on, just as the show itself.

"For today's challenge, one person will be your caller, as the rest of the tribe will be blindfolded and tethered together in pairs. On my go, using only verbal commands, the caller will guide their tribe through a series of obstacles to a tower. You will pull on a rope dumping water with a bag along with it. Upon getting all three bags, you'll use the balls inside and maneuver them through a table maze. Your goal is to get all three balls in their final resting spot. First two tribes that finish, win immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, you know the deal. Tribal Council tonight where someone will be the _sixth _person voted out of this game. I'll give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started... Oh, one extra thing..."

The group paused right before they were completely huddled up with a game plan.

"The person who is the caller, must be the hero for the table maze."

-/-

"We have our callers." Master Hand confirmed. "It is going to be Krystal for Nago, Zelda for Chatan, and Shovel Knight for Motobu. Here we go. For immunity. Survivors ready?"

As the three callers stood on large platforms, the rest of the contestants were all blindfolded with their buffs over their faces.

"..._**GO!**_"

And the six pairs went off, two pairs for each tribe. All three callers immediately began to bark out orders to their teams as they slowly wandered through the course, with the occasional bumping into barrels and colored railings.

"KEEP GOING STRAIGHT! KEEP GOING STRAIGHT!" yelled out Krystal. "JUST UP AHEAD, GUYS!"

"DOWN THE MIDDLE, BONNIE AND SHEIK!" Zelda had both her hands over her mouth shouting as if she never shouted before.

"Krystal and Shovel Knight sending all of their members in the same direction, while Zelda is splitting her pairs up!"

"TO THE LEFT! TO THE LEFT! TO THE LEFT! TO THE LEFT!" Shovel Knight repeated.

"Now the rest of the pairs are splitting up." Master Hand explained what was happening. "Marth and Knuckles are at a tower! Bonnie and Sheik are at a tower! ...Greninja and Pac-Man are at a tower!"

"Knuckles, is the rope behind you?" Marth questioned, both of his arms being spread out. Though when he turned and felt something he thought it was a rope, he began pulling. "Maybe this is it..."

"Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow! Cut it out! Those are my dreadlocks!"

"Sorry..."

"Luigi and Foxy are at a tower!"

Foxy immediately found the rope and pulled down on it, causing a large bucket filled with orange colored water dump down on the both of them.

"..." Luigi shook himself off like a dog.

"COME BACK LUIGI AND FOXY!"

"Right now Luigi and Foxy, Marth and Knuckles, and Bonnie and Sheik are coming back with bags!"

"What's this do?"

"That's the rope." Greninja answered. "Pull on it."

"Ugh!" with a giant tug, water dumped all over Greninja and Pac-Man.

"I'm so glad I'm already a water type..."

"Chatan has a bit of an early lead thanks to Zelda's strategy..."

"OKAY, TEAM. WE HAVE TO SPLIT UP! MARTH AND KNUCKLES ARE GOING TO THE LEFT. SHADOW AND SHULK, GO RIGHT! GO RIGHT!"

"Now, everybody else is using Zelda's strategy!" Master Hand noted.

"OKAY, BONNIE AND SHEIK STAY HERE." The Hyrulian pointed. "GRENINJA AND PAC-MAN, GET BACK OUT THERE!"

"...Oof!" Freddy bumped into one of the railings so hard he almost fell over.

"You alright?"

"I'm fine..." He reassured Roy.

"I can't find the barrel anywhere..." Foxy, who was ahead of Luigi, was flailing his right arm all over the place looking for the barrel to drop the bag on top of it. "..._Finally_..."

"Come on... Chatan's in the lead..." Shadow was speed walking his way through the course, not caring how many obstacles he, and especially his partner were bumping into.

"Shadow is literally _shuffling_ along Shulk through the obstacles... and it's actually working!"

"Pull it!" The hedgehog ordered as Shulk dumped water on each other, the Mobian himself immediately untying the bag. Foxy and his teammate on Motobu meanwhile, dumped the water on himself and the plumber once more.

"All three tribes have their bags. We are literally quite even..."

But it ended up being Nago who returned to their barrel, causing Krystal to leap off the platform, grab the bags, and direct her team through the entire obstacle course in order to make it to the puzzle at the end of the challenge. Both of her opposing teams, however, were not that far behind at all.

"Go, Chatan! Go, Motobu! Now Shovel Knight and Zelda have to lead the rest of the tribe through..."

It looked as if there were three small trains traveling along the tracks on the railroad in different directions all at once.

"Nago's through! Take off your blindfolds!"

"Here, hold these..." Krystal forced two of the bags into Marth's hands so she could immediately begin her work.

"Motobu's through... Chatan's through! Everybody taking off their blindfolds, now!"

Zelda appeared to be taking her time studying the table maze that rotated on itself every so often, Shovel Knight was not panicking in any way, and Krystal was playing slightly more aggressively. Although, she knew she was already in the minority on that tribe. Who could have blamed her?

"Don't rush, Zelda." Greninja suggested. "We only need to avoid being last..."

"Okay, I'm almost halfway there..." Shovel Knight updated his group as he constantly pulled and adjusted at least one of the handles used to control the maze. "Let me just get around this corner..."

Unfortunately for Shovel Knight, his first ball fell through a hole.

"Shovel Knight drops. He's gotta start again."

"Stay calm..." said Luigi.

"One thing about this is that whether you are an emperor _or_ a knight," The reality show host spoke. "whenever you are put into a position where an entire team is relying on you to perform, it can be _very scary_. There is that fear that comes from within. You could walk out of here and live as a hero, or die as one tonight. Zelda trying to win to _protect _her tribe from going to Tribal Council, Krystal and Shovel Knight trying to win to _help_ their tribes so that they can continue to stay alive."

"Alright, almost there, almost there..."

"Krystal, don't worry. Just concentrate..." said Shulk. "...Okay, you're good, you're good."

"Nago has their first ball in place at the center of the table. They need two more... Zelda is getting very close, trying to get around a tough spot here. One wrong move and she's starting over..."

Yet with one pull to the right, the ball nimbly moved past the hole and right into the center where she was able to land her first ball easily.

"Chatan has landed their first ball. Shovel Knight catching up and Motobu is still in this!"

"Krystal is acing this table maze... Motobu finally lands their first ball!"

Shovel Knight knew that he had to play just a tad bit more aggressively.

"Krystal is getting around that tough spot... and she's got it! Nago only down to one ball left!"

"Okay, lean a little to the left..." Foxy cocked his head a bit to the side. "That part is the first part that's tricky... Just stay cool and you'll be fine..."

"Zelda don't panic." Sheik shook her head. "We still have a shot."

The Survivor from Hyrule was starting to move a little faster. However, the moment she did so, her ball ended up falling out throughout halfway through the course.

"Zelda drops! She's gotta start again!"

"Don't worry, Zelda!" Pac-Man was still optimistic. "We still have a chance!"

"Krystal _inches_ away..."

"Come on, come on..." Shulk mumbled.

"_**NAGO WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

With an immediate sigh of relief, Krystal let go of both handles, embracing most of her tribe, elated that she had the opportunity to see another day.

"There is only room for one more!"

And at that point, Shovel Knight managed to get his second ball in, with Zelda doing the same about nearly a dozen seconds later after moving swiftly in comparison to her efforts at the beginning of that portion of the challenge.

"...Shovel Knight getting very close to the end..."

Zelda kept fighting. Although, her efforts were to no avail the moment where Shovel Knight's ball sunk in the hole.

"_**MOTOBU WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

Upon hearing that, Zelda almost instantly let go with a shake of her head with a sigh, head hanging down slightly low.

"Zelda, don't worry." Bonnie placed a hand on her shoulder. "You did great."

"Good job, Zelda." Greninja patted her on the back. "You did the best you can do."

"Nago, congratulations. You do not have to go to Tribal Council." Master Hand floated along to give the idol to Krystal. "Here you go. ...Motobu, second place is everything in this situation and you've earned. Nobody going home from your tribe once again."

After giving the second idol to Roy, Master Hand sent both of them back out.

"Chatan, Tribal Council tonight. Somebody will be the sixth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. You have the afternoon to figure out who's it gonna be. Head back to camp."

_"It would probably be poetic justice for me to be sent home after I took the leader role here and lost the challenge today." Zelda figured. "However, I am clearly going to fight to stay alive here. If I can convince someone to keep me, that's one thing. But if I can someone convince them to keep both me and Pac-Man, that would help me greatly. It is all based on the relationships."_

* * *

**Alright, so obviously if Bonnie flips, it's either Greninja or Sheik. But if he doesn't flip, it's either Zelda or Pac-Man, with Zelda seemingly the possible choice here.**

**But other than that, I just can't believe that I'm almost done with the pre-merge here! Only one more vote after this to go, and I will finally really start to explain details of the third season!  
**

**...Oh, and one more thing, I really liked the whole Roy scene there at the beginning of the chapter. Like, I know it's not the first time someone cost a team a challenge but we still had a really nice moment from Roy, and how he opened up to him actually not being used to losing a lot due to him being classified as an "emperor" based off his own personal story.**

**I think one of the few problems Kodai Island had was that even though there are moments like this, I feel like there needed to be just a bit more, even though there were great story arcs with quite a few of the characters. But I think after I finally managed to finish watching all thirty-eight seasons at this point, I now have a clear picture of how I should properly write a Survivor story, and one thing that quite a few people complain about (myself included) in some actual Survivor seasons (specifically most of the modern ones) is basically on how in some seasons there are like, twenty gamebots with no personalities or emotions whatsoever like it's just a simple chess game rather than real people playing a hardcore game like this with actual emotions and personalities.**

**Cambodia (although great season) is a good example of this. Strategy was amazing, but there were very few moments with any of the characters, and barely any interesting story arcs. (That was even an All Star season and I've actually seen first before most of the players first seasons so that didn't help lol).**

**But for this fic, I think the whole Peach situation says it all, so for this chapter in particular I really do feel for Roy here. So with this, hopefully this Survivor fic can fix one of the few problems Kodai Island had and I will continue to take my time writing it.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you feel that Motobu would win the next challenge, or do you think they're going to Tribal Council next?**

**2\. How likely will Bonnie flip?**

**3\. Who do you think will get Sheik's advantage?**

**Now I'll state the usual. Vote for your top five players if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	20. Chapter 20: Day 16 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 20 - Day 16 Part 2

**Well, I don't have that much to say ****again. Chatan of the three tribes is going to Tribal Council (Sheik, Bonnie, Zelda, Pac-Man, and Greninja) and somebody's favorite character of all time is going home if it happens to be one of these five, even though there's a character that is seemingly the safest versus the character that is in hot water of being in danger to be voted out. So that means Chatan will be down to only four members. That's kind small...**

**But we'll see how this goes...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Chatan**

**Day 16**

* * *

_Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Pac-Man, Zelda_

-/-

"We still have some pastries left over?"

"We do." Bonnie replied to Pac-Man with a point in a certain direction. "They're over there..."

"I mean, if we're going to Tribal Council, I should at least feed myself so that I can prepare for it." He said as he towards the shelter to look. "...Aw... All the chocolate ones are gone..."

_"I actually feel... sort of anxious tonight..." Pac-Man held a straight look sitting by the water. "I'm on the bottom with Zelda, and there is only so much we can do. I don't want myself to go home **or** Zelda. So if the both of us can stay here, we have no other choice but to vote for somebody else. It's only day sixteen out here, and I am not done with this adventure, yet. There is just so much more that I wanna do!"_

He was now speaking with Zelda out on the beach.

"So... if we're both get to stay here, then that means voting one of them out. I don't think we have any other choice."

"Of course we don't." Zelda shook her head in agreement. "And obviously, we need Bonnie here so that we can win more challenges. And I chose to sit back and observe as much as I could, and Greninja and Sheik are a power couple..."

"..."

"...Not romantically..." She shook her head again. "More like... Let's say brother and sister..."

"...Oh, _now_ I get it!"

She chuckled. "Yes. You watch Survivor at home more than I do, Pac-Man, so you know how dangerous power couples are. If you let them go too far, they can take control of the rest of the game, especially if it is easy to see it. Bonnie is in the swing vote position. And Greninja is also physical at challenges. Not saying that Sheik isn't, but both of them see to be stronger than she is. I think it's best that we vote for Sheik."

"But, two votes isn't enough..." Pac-Man thought out loud. "How are we going to convince Bonnie that Sheik is a better choice? Greninja and Sheik are his allies and he's in the majority."

"Exactly." Zelda placed a finger beneath her chin. "And Bonnie is smart enough to know how dangerous couples are, and I wouldn't be surprised if Bonnie knows how close Greninja and Sheik are. You two have been talking as well, but you two are in different alliances, and I could say the same for me and Sheik. You can't even argue that him voting one of us off is the wrong move to make, because why wouldn't he in this case scenario? ...Hmm... I suppose all we can say here is to tell Bonnie that what should be our number one priority is to based this vote off of new relationships. Shadow already turned on Mega, so we can say that it is okay for Bonnie to turn on Sheik... even though I am fond of her, like you said, we have no other option... unless we vote out Greninja now and hope that Bonnie is still with us so that we can vote off Sheik..."

"I'm down with that."

_"There is Bonnie and Pac-Man, me and Sheik, and there is Sheik and Greninja." Zelda laid out the relationships. "Two people in the same alliance connecting is more dangerous at the moment, and Sheik seems to have the most connections. Greninja doesn't have a strong connection with anyone else, so for Bonnie, maybe he would think that he can afford to lose Greninja."_

-/-

The three knights remained at the shelter.

_"So this time, it's the original Knights tribe that has the majority and needs to go to tribal to vote somebody out." said Greninja. "We have two options, but last time, there might have been a turn from someone in the majority... which in fact does scare me. Worst case scenario, someone could do the same thing over here to take advantage of it... So I need to just make sure everyone is all on the same page... This is the trickiest part of the swap..."_

"Okay, so the emperors have distanced themselves from us. Our time to talk is now..." Greninja turned his head to Bonnie. "Now, not that I don't trust you or anything, but you're still with us, right?"

He nodded but responded calmly. "Of course I am."

"Good, just making sure."

"You're not turning on us, right?" Sheik laughed a little.

And he did the same. "I'm with you guys."

"Good. The knights need to stay intact so that we all can be in the majority at merge time." Greninja explained. "We just need to figure out who's more dangerous to keep around, as well as who can we get rid of for right now."

"Go ahead."

"Okay, well I think that Pac-Man is such a likable guy, then that would make him extremely dangerous for the long run." Sheik stated. "Not that you have to be _unlikable_ to win the game or anything, but when you have people on the bottom that have likable characteristics such as Pac-Man, if one of the emperors ends up getting to the end, then it would be likely that he would be getting some votes. And then of course, there's Zelda. I don't know what is worse..."

"You know," Bonnie then spoke. "if you guys somehow think I'm not with you, I think that Zelda is tryin' to get me to flip..."

Sheik's jaw hung open a little and Greninja immediately widened his eyes.

"You serious?" The former blinked.

"Well, not _directly_ I should say. But she's been trying to see where my head was at, and I think she was trying to convince me to vote one of you two off."

"..._Oookay_, then..." Sheik chose to not think too much of it, even though it was obviously news to her. "I was getting to say that Zelda is smart, and this of course makes her even more of a threat..."

"She's _so_ strategic..." The Pokemon of the trio placed his hands on his hips lowering his head.

_"Greninja and Sheik are heavily giving me Millennials vs Gen X vibes, and it is almost as if the Survivor Gods are asking me to vote one of them off." Bonnie sat near the forest. "And part of me it's telling myself that I must do it... However,... at the same time, even though things are the way they are, Mega Man's sudden exit is telling me that this is a perfect opportunity to take advantage of that, and fate has chosen Chatan to head to Tribal Council and allow me to be the one to decide how am I gonna control not only my fate, but for the rest of the knights. Trust me. I really **really** want to vote one of them out. ...But do to whatever happened with Nago, I figure that if I vote off one of my own, I'm making a huge mistake..."_

_"Nago could go to tribal again, and for all we know, Knuckles or Krystal would be going home after Greninja or Sheik, and then the knights would lose the season because we wouldn't have the numbers at merge so we wouldn't have to be dictated by the old Nago members. ...I'm trying my absolute** hardest** to play double agent here and I'm trying even harder not to mess with anyone and tick anyone off, because if the emperors have the numbers at merge, it would be my fault and then I would lose a few jury votes if I make it to the end. I mean, I'm a knight. I am not used to making decisions like this, and now I know what it feels like to be in the spot that I am right now... So even though I want to flip, if I do it now, I will screw over the rest of my tribe and I would become the villain. There's a time and a place for everything. However, even though I don't intend to vote off Sheik or Greninja, I want to at least still gain something from this upcoming Tribal Council. I like Pac-Man and I want him to stick around, so in order to be open and honest to my alliance, I needed to tell them the truth, while at the same time, transferring the heat over to Zelda. ...And after all that, there is still one more thing I need to do..."_

-/-

While he was walking on the beach, he found Pac-Man and Zelda still hanging together by the beach.

"Oh, there you are." Zelda talked first. "You are just the person I wanted to see..."

"Yeah, I figured that..." He scratched behind his ear.

"Oh, well okay then. So, me and Pac-Man have been talking for a little bit."

The anthropomorphic bunny nodded. "Yeah, I know... Guys, listen. I don't know how you two are gonna feel about this, but I have been thinking about everything for a while ever since the swap...

Both of them stared.

"Ugh... How do I put this..." He decided to head straight for the point. "Alright, so even though there are two people that need to be broken up,... I'm afraid that if I do it now, I'm shooting my own self in the foot."

...

"Right now, since the way things are, especially after since the fact that an emperor was just sent home last time," Roberts elaborated. "I think the rest of my alliance wants to stay in the majority when we all get to the merge. I'm afraid that the whole Emperors vs Knights thing is still on, and I think it's gonna stay that way for a while..."

"...But..." Pac-Man uttered with a blink.

"I'm sorry, but as much as I wanna work with the both of you, if I turn on them now, I am screwing over the rest of my tribe, since if Nago heads to tribal again, they might still vote off either Knuckles or Krystal, and that would be our fate coming into the merge. I feel as if you all are gonna come back together and start picking us off..."

"...You... So it's between me and him?" Zelda, who was sort of having trouble figuring out on what words to say, directed her finger at Pac-Man.

"I think at this point if you want to somehow build trust with the two of them, I'd suggest you both write each other's names down. And whoever I'm left with, maybe we can just hope we can win the next immunity challenge, so that we'll all be at merge together. The only reason to why I'm approaching you both like this is because I feel like this is the time to be honest here and explain..."

"..."

"..."

"I'm sorry..."

"B-But..." Pac-Man did not know what to think.

"I'm not mad at you." Zelda hung her head down. "You have to do what is best for my game, and if I was in your shoes, I would have had to do what is best for me. You don't have to feel guilty. I understand... Thank you for taking the time to talk to us like this..."

"Any time. All I can say is that the only way both of you can stay here is that one of you somehow find an idol and hope that Chatan's idol is not already taken by someone who has already been to Exile Island."

_"...You know," Zelda remained on the sand. "everyone that is on the bottom knows that you feel hopeless when you know your fate is control by something that is beyond your control. And when the cards do not play out in your favor, then there is really nothing else you can do except hope that the hammer is dropped onto somebody else. I appreciate Bonnie taking the time to find me and Pac-Man and being honest and telling the truth... Some people rather be blindsided than know they are going home, but I feel the opposite, because then you have a moment to realize how far you've come, more than realizing what could have been the moment your torch is snuffed. So with that being said, if I am somehow still here after tonight, then my best interest is to simply hope I make it out here as long as possible... If not, then I suppose it is what it is..."_

_She was trying her best to not shed tears again._

They were now alone once more.

"I..." Pac-Man was looking around. "I... I don't wanna go home, yet! We haven't made it to the merge, yet! We haven't even made it to the jury, yet! ...I-I don't wanna write your name down, Zelda!"

"I do not wish your name down, either." She shook her head. "Trust me. But like Bonnie said. The only way we could grow closer to Greninja and Sheik is to write down each other so we can show them that we're willing to sacrifice each other to stay in the game just in case they need us in the future. I will not be mad if you have to put my name down tonight because I understand..."

"..." Pac-Man shifted his eyes diagonally to the ground in thought.

_"I knew that this experience will teach me many things, and it is up to this moment. I was not born to give up so easily, but to give everything I have with the best of my efforts. I came in here with the determination to do all that I can to be victorious... And to have a dream of yours being cut short is not the best feeling in the world. Though I suppose that some things are just meant to be..."_

_She just sat there heading into her own thoughts._

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 16**

* * *

Chatan made their way to the Tribal Council voting area one by one. Greninja, Zelda, and Bonnie sitting in the top row, and Pac-Man and Sheik sitting on the bottom.

"Alright." Master Hand began the discussion. "So, I guess we can start off with the big reaction to seeing Mega Man no longer in this game. ...Pac-Man, you're already nodding."

"I am, because I am still trying to figure out what the heck happened over there!" He replied. "You see, Mega Man was my number one ally in this game, and I thought for sure he was safe. But,... I am pretty sure none of us that are sitting here right now know exactly what happened. The only people that know are the people that are on the Nago tribe right now."

"Zelda, you and Pac-Man started on the Emperors tribe. What are your thoughts of Mega Man leaving the game even though he seemed to be in the majority over there?"

"Well, my guess is that things just were not as they seemed to be over there." She hypothesized. "There might have been an idol play, there might have been some advantage that we are not aware of, or even a flip. Though as Pac-Man stated, nothing is for certain until we know the whole truth to what occurred on the Nago beach. The emperors appeared to have the advantage on their own tribe, but in spite of knowing that the knights won the favor for the swap, an emperor has still left the game. So of course, we are both concerned."

"And for Bonnie, Greninja, and Sheik," He shifted the attention to the old Chatan members. "for you guys, this is great news for you. Nago was the only beach you all don't have the majority on, and both Krystal and Knuckles survived."

"Well, no matter what happened over there is basically not as relevant to the fact that old Chatan has taken the lead now." Sheik told him. "Things would have been different if one of them left, though by just a bit. If a knight was out of the game and we still lost, we would have still had to vote one off one of the emperors to tie it up. But now since it was an emperor that left before, it gave us an advantage here because it gives the knights a chance to gain control of this game, especially when it comes to the merge."

"So Bonnie, Mega Man's departure just put the rest of the emperors at a disadvantage, and for you three, the exact opposite. What would happen if one of you three is actually the one that gets sent home tonight?"

"If one of us gets that snuff, then that means that old Chatan has one last chance to have the numbers." He explained. "Our fear is the risk of voting off one of our own, because say if Nago loses again, one of them would be out of the game knowing the situation, and then the knights are gonna be the ones that will be in the minority at the merge. You not only hurt yourself, but also for the people you have started out with."

"But Zelda, if there was a flip on Nago, and if an emperor leaves again, than you guys are screwed over. So if there was a turn, what do you think that person was trying to accomplish?"

"I... I can not say..." She turned her head side to side and shrugged. "Only way I can know for sure is if I talk to that person directly. But then again, how am I suppose to know what that person would say is even all the way true? Everyone on this island knows what game they are playing including myself. And in the end, it is difficult to trust someone. And if there was a flip, that of course would not make things any better, because it hurts the relationship."

"So Greninja, here is the difference. At the last Tribal Council, the emperors were the ones that appeared to be in control of the knights, living up to their name by telling people what to do." Master Hand brought up. "But, since the original Knights alliance leads 3-2 for this tribal, what would you make of it?"

"Hmm... That's a good question." He had to think for a moment. "Maybe people could think of it as a way of the knights showing the emperors that you might always be in control, just like how people can not always win. I bet some of my tribemates have deep stories that they might not even want to share because of how tragic it might be, and for the emperors, I may not know all of their stories, but more of them are probably used to getting by and dominating life, anyway, whereas for the knights it may not always be the case. So we just pick ourselves up and keep fighting as usual."

"So this means that, Zelda, Pac-Man, if you guys are truly at the bottom of the totem pole,... what does it feel like, knowing that one of you might lose and be voted out, where as you two are more used to success depending on what happened before you two came here?"

"For me, I feel like that I am having a great time out here so far." Pac-Man smiled. "I've been through a lot. I competed in challenges, I won some, I lost some, I got through tough weather as well as nice, sunny weather, I've been through Tribal Council, I've been part of a blindside,... but now, being on the bottom is a feeling that I'm not exactly used to. Normally at home, I think to myself of how I'm going to get through something, rather than wondering _if_ I am going to get through it. So the position I am right now is... well, I'm quite anxious right now. The knights only have two options and I'm one of them, so if I'm somehow still alive in this game, that would only mean that I would have to say goodbye to my new friend, Zelda."

Even though the rest of the tribe chuckled a bit, Zelda's was the most noticeable.

"And of course I don't want to be voted out. I haven't even seen my name come up yet (not that I want to). I mean, what about the merge? The jury? Getting off the island for a bit after winning a reward? Loved ones visit? Final three? ...And of course, being the Sole Survivor. I haven't even done _half_ of what I wanted, yet. And being on the bottom while other people are controlling your fate... that's _scary_."

"...And for you, Zelda?"

"Well, even though I've gotten a couple breaks here and there, I felt like I've been in danger since... day _three_ after we lost the first challenge. I was already going through the feelings of not winning as well as the unknown. For example, what if I was the one that ended up being voted out instead of Peach? What if the rest of my tribe decided to keep Ghirahim and send me out because they wanted to win even more challenges? ...But I feel as if this is the biggest obstacle so far, and of course it is not something that is easy to get over, especially when you have a low chance."

"Previously, whenever there was an obstacle in this game for me to get over, I've always made it through. But as far as tonight is concerned, I guess I am a knight here who might not win. Like Pac-Man said, you do feel uneasy as others are the ones that are controlling where I am supposed to go, and what are they intending on doing with me from here. You barely have any options to work with, and it is almost as if there is little to no hope this time, unlike previously for not only my position in the game, but also back in Hyrule before I came out here. That being said, if tonight is my last night out here in Japan for this game, then... I will look at myself as a warrior who gave it everything I had. I've already prepared myself for what's to come. It would be a bittersweet feeling, but knowing you've at least made it this far, there is not any reason to feel as if you would have done more..."

At that point, all three knights grew looks of sympathy and guilt to no one in particular.

"Alright. It is time to vote. Sheik, you're up..."

The ninja rose from her seat and took her time making her way to the voting area. Following her, plus water-type Pokemon, Greninja, was Bonnie Roberts, who held up his piece of parchment with a certain name already being written without uttering a word before putting his vote inside the urn.

Now it was Zelda's turn to vote, holding up the name of Pac-Man. "Did not expect it to be like this, but I am afraid it has to be this way for the sake of us at least one of us gaining the knights trust out here..."

Pac-Man himself was the last to vote, and he wrote the only other emperor's name in big letters.

"I really didn't want to do this, but Zelda has probably written my name down, too. And if I am still here, then maybe this tribe can win the final tribal immunity challenge so that we can all make the merge. Here goes..."

He sat back down in his spot after casting his vote.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Pac-Man was staring in the direction Master Hand was leaving while Zelda held a fist beneath her chin, Bonnie staring down at the floor all the while.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

...

"Okay, once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately." The vote reading was about to commence. "I'll read the votes..."

Everyone watched him uncap the urn.

"First vote... Zelda."

She nodded.

"Pac-Man."

He eyed Zelda who was staring back, before rotating his head back to the master.

"One vote Pac-Man, one vote Zelda."

Greninja slowly shook his head out of guilt, Sheik exhaling through her nose. Bonnie was not even paying attention to Master Hand anymore.

"Pac-Man."

"..."

"Two votes Pac-Man, one vote Zelda."

Something told Pac-Man that his adventure was about to come to a close within the next second.

"Sixth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Pac-Man. That's three, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

"...Alright, then." He formed a small smirk, grabbing his belongings standing up. "I guess it's time..."

Unlike Sheik, Zelda exhaled out of her mouth for a couple different reasons. She survived, yet it never came without a consequence.

Pac-Man retrieved his torch and began to walk. "Hey Bonnie, tell your band I am looking forward to see you all play in person!"

He snickered as he watch his torch being placed down. "I will..."

"Pac-Man," said Master Hand. "the tribe has spoken..."

"I suppose they did..." His torch was then put out.

"Time for you to go."

"Alright, guys!" Pac-Man turned around to wave. "It's been fun! I'll see you all at the reunion and I will make sure I'll tell Mega Man, Rouge, Ghirahim, Cloud, and Peach all about you guys!"

"Okay, then." chuckled Greninja.

"Bye, Pac-Man." Zelda waved with a smirk.

"Good luck, Zelda!"

He made his way down the stairs.

The Hyrulian sighed again.

"Well, it seems that at least Pac-Man had a positive spirit even if he was just voted out." said the master. "He might have been an emperor, but I guess whether he lost this time or not, he was _still_ smiling."

All four of them nodded in agreement.

"Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Sheik**** \- Pac-Man**

**Greninja**** \- Pac-Man**

**Bonnie**** \- Pac-Man**

**Zelda**** \- Pac-Man**

**Pac-Man \- Zelda**

_**15th Place:**_ **Pac-Man**

* * *

_"This adventure really means a lot to me! I may not have won, but at least I wasn't the first voted out and made it all the way to day sixteen! That alone is something to be proud of. Now when I get back home, I get to tell all my friends about the adventure and maybe a couple of them can give this game a try. It's really a good game! And also, at least I got booted out right after Mega Man, and now I have to go to Ponderosa, and then when this season airs, I am sitting next to him in the reunion show!"_

* * *

**_Castaways Remaining:_**

**Marth, Shadow, Shulk, Krystal, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy**

* * *

**#ScrewedbytheSwap**

**That was when Pac-Man came from a good position, to a bad position. I guess the Knights alliance decided to go with voting out the likable threat over the strategic threat. And maybe Bonnie still couldn't convince Greninja and Sheik to vote for Zelda. Also, this Tribal Council voting is very similar to Peach's tribal when you talk about Zelda. Unanimous vote, Zelda staying both times, both Pac and Peach being the two most positive spirits of the tribe, and both still smiling even after they left. But for this vote, I guess it wasn't anyone's idea in particular. Could've been Bonnie's specifically if Zelda got the boot tonight since he was closer to Pac-Man.**

**Also also, even if a knight goes home next time,... it's too late. If the merge/jury starts at thirteen, then the Knights tribe will officially have the majority at the merge. This means that anyone who is a fan of Zelda, Roy, Freddy, Shadow, Shulk, and Marth,... pray for them lol.**

**Questions:**

**1\. On a scale of one to ten, how much did you enjoy Pac-Man? Would you would have prefer to have him stay over Zelda?**

**2\. What do you think of Bonnie's decision and him overall this chapter?**

**Watch my intro for the season and vote for you top five players on my profile (not on mobile) and I will see you all next time!**


	21. Chapter 21: Day 17 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 21 - Day 17 Part 1

**You know what, I got a small confession to make lol. I haven't actually confirmed all eighteen castaways for the next season yet,... but then I confirmed all the castaways for season four. Weird right? I thought to myself that if I confirm all castaways for season three, then I would be too excited to wait it out and have the season planned to early for me. I want to at least wait until the merge to start planning and to be honest, just last month I swapped a few castaways out so that they can compete sooner rather than later. (And I'm gonna make another announcement right now, it's going to be a theme based season like this one, so that's why I felt that certain castaways have to compete earlier.)**

**But let's focus focus back on season two (this story of course lol). So one emperor too many got the boot last night, and the knights will officially have the numbers at merge, the remaining six from that tribe already in trouble and we still have one more Tribal Council to go to before that (yes, the merge is at thirteen).**

**~KF**

* * *

**Chatan**

**Night 16**

* * *

_Sheik, Bonnie, Greninja, Zelda_

-/-

Greninja, Zelda, Sheik, and Bonnie laid their torches against the tree closest towards their shelter.

"You alright, Zelda?" Sheik asked.

"Well, all that I can say is that I appreciate the three of you keeping you here." Her fellow Hyrulian replied. "I will try my hardest to help with the challenges."

"We will all try." said Greninja, adding more wood to the fire to keep it going. "We're all in this together. There might be only four people left over here, but since the other tribes are sitting a person out, it will not even matter."

_"Of course I can't blame Bonnie for going with the safer option tonight, because he has to do what's best for him, so he took advantage of the fact that Mega got eliminated the time before last. Nevertheless though, first it was me being in a hole with someone else, now it is me against the world." Zelda talked. "I am the only emperor on the old **Knights** tribe, and the only way I can make it out alive is if this tribe wins the next immunity challenge, since rumor has it that this upcoming tribal will be the last Tribal Council before the merge. With that being said, even though people seem to be glad that I am here, I know I have to do everything within my power to make sure that we win, or else I am going to be the next to go..."_

_"But since Pac-Man left, it's pretty clear no matter what happens my tribe alliance is still going to be down in numbers. So, fate of the emperors? We're done..."_

Meanwhile, while Bonnie remained at the shelter to watch over Zelda, Greninja and Sheik were at the beach with big grins on their faces.

"...Well?" said Greninja.

"We did it." Sheik nodded. "We're gonna have the numbers."

"It's a good feeling." Greninja bobbed his head up and down. "Everyone's worst fear of this situation turning out to be the exact opposite, so... it's a major relief for all of us."

_"Surprisingly, the **Knights** Alliance is the one that is going to have the majority now at merge." Greninja stated. "Even if one of us ends up leaving next time, it would not even matter, because one too many emperors had their torch snuffed. I don't know if any of the emperors automatically expected themselves to completely dominate over us for this game, but when things ended up turning around in **our** favor? I gotta says in these type of situations, it is definitely something you don't see everyday. Instead of our fate being controlled by the emperors, we're gonna be the ones that will control them instead."_

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 17**

* * *

_Shadow, Marth, Shulk__, Krystal, Knuckles_

-/-

Knuckles picked up a large branch and smacked it against the tree, surprisingly breaking in half due to its size. Next thing he knew, he found himself stomping both branches breaking them up even more.

Shulk was behind staring in awe.

_"The two knights on this tribe are working their... **tails** off to say the least." He commented. "Ever since we got here, they've been going at it non stop... I guess they feel as if they're trying so hard to impress me, Marth, and Shadow because they see us as their bosses who have just been hired for the job, even though they don't have to break their necks around here just so that can they can prove to us that they're worthy of staying on the island, hahaha! I mean, we all deserve to be here. But, they just carried on."_

"Hey guys, since it's gonna rain today, I'm gonna start weaving these palm fronds a little tighter over here." Krystal suggested, already doing the task in front of Marth.

"Oh, okay... Thanks..."

Knuckles was now returning to the camp with a scuba mask on his face.

"What you got..." Shadow eyed him.

"...A stingray..."

"..You _what_?"

"Meh..." He shrugged. "It only took me about ten minutes. I wanted to get an octopus but it was all over the place, you know what I'm saying? So hopefully this will do, so that we'll all be fed before our next challenge takes place. Oh, and by the way, Krystal got the fire going so we can just fry this up..."

"...I'm impressed." He folded his arms. "I felt as if some of my old tribe members were afraid to take the survival aspect of the game seriously..."

He smirked and snickered. "You should have met Cloud Strife from Chatan. But our tribe worked together well with the shelter and all."

"You were the ones that got that kit on day one, so you all had an early advantage."

"I know, but we still had to be on our toes twenty-four seven." Knuckles finally removing the scuba mask. "It's especially a priority since it's raining in Japan half the time this season... Speaking of rain, it hasn't actually rained in a while..."

That actually made Shadow facepalm. "You should have never said that... Now it's probably gonna happen..."

"Whoops..."

_"I mean, they're all staring at me and Krystal like they're amazed of what we're doing around here at a camp that was not even ours from the get go." Knuckles talked, his right arm leaning against a rock as he began to laugh. "I mean, it's not as if I'm trying to **please** them or anything, because I don't have to please anybody other than myself... unless you want to prove trust in this game. But, me and Krystal are just used to getting the job done. Camp is not gonna make itself, you know? I had to fend for myself since I was alone on Angel Island since I was a kid, so I'm pretty much used to it."_

"So Knux," Shadow then changed topics. "since I've put my neck on the line for you, we need to come up with a game plan at this point that would satisfy the both of us..."

"I agree..." He said. "...What's best for you if we gotta go back to tribal?"

"Hmm..." He thought to himself for a moment. "I am afraid I can not risk agitating the rest of the tribe any longer, even though I am playing my own game here. You guys already have the numbers and most likely people aren't satisfied with my decision. Wouldn't be surprised if some have already figured out what happened..."

_"The phrase at the second challenge specifically stated 'Do Not Waste the Opportunity.' And so, I felt that I've taken the perfect opportunity to flip against Mega. Unsurprisingly, the tribe as a whole is probably throwing a temper tantrum about it as if they're all Shadow the Hedgehog. I determine my own destiny. And if it means sacrificing another emperor just so that I can move forward, so be it. But my questions is... should I send home another emperor or still by tribal lines and vote off a knight this time? ...I suppose I can attempt to earn Marth and Shulk's trust back if I speak with them..."_

He was now moving along with them in the forest.

"Listen... I brought you two over here for a reason, since both of the knights are distracted with their own work ethic at the moment..." He stated. "I know what I did before Marth was sent here, but please listen to what I have to say."

"You have the floor..." said Shulk.

"Okay, so... I don't want you two to think that I don't care about numbers, since Survivor is without a doubt a numbers game. Shulk, I know you are the type of person that would understand that in order to keep moving forward, we need to at least work with one knight in the game."

"Yeah, I do..." He nodded in agreement.

"Good, I am glad you understand that." The Mobian bobbed his head up and down out of relief. "Even if we go to tribal again, a knight would still be on this tribe before the merge, and so we can use him... or _her_ so that we can all advance deep in the game. But for our game, I believe the best person that would help us move forward is Knuckles."

"You think so?"

"I _know_ so." He answered Marth. "Knuckles is obviously a strong physical competitor. If he can win some immunities, he can help protect this alliance. He has the biggest chance of keep immunity away from everyone else than Krystal."

_"I would have told them where Knuckles stood on his old tribe, but then Marth and Shulk could very well put two and two together and remember that I was on the outs on this tribe. They could easily had a side conversation and come to the conclusion that me and Knuckles have something going on."_

"I mean, Krystal on the other hand is not going to win twenty immunity challenges. We need to have a strong alliance come the merge, and other than... _you_ (no offense)..."

"None taken, I suppose..." Marth Lowell rolled his eyes.

"Other than you, we have a physically strong team and we would want to increase our chances of winning challenges as much as possible so we would have more room to work with. Our end goal is to make to final four or final five depending on whether or not we win the next immunity challenge."

"Sounds like it's something to consider. We'll keep talking." Shulk said. "You should probably check up on those two to see if they're not out looking for idols..."

As Shadow was out of sight within the next dozen seconds, Shulk and Marth were eye to eye.

"...Do you really trust him?" The former asked.

"Not as far as I can throw him based on his actions from before." Marth shook his head 'no.' "Shadow is clearly a dangerous person. He has some valid points on us working with at least one of the knights, but I am not one to trust someone so easily after I have been betrayed."

"Well, like we said before..." Shulk placed his hands on his hips. "We can't even vote Shadow out now because that would make our future look even worse. There are still more knights than emperors, and we have a team like the knights, there is no question that they're all gonna try and stick together for as long as possible."

"But if we can not vote Shadow out at this moment, perhaps we should pull in Krystal and get rid of Knuckles so that Shadow would have one less option to work with and so that we could potentially use Krystal for _our_ game." Marth suggested. "We can start interacting with her more than ever before. She is less likely to lie and manipulate, so she would be much easier to work with even if we _do _plan on working with Shadow long term."

_"I will not allow my game to be dictated by another who has already betrayed my trust." Marth sat on a rock with a head shake. "Shadow could be playing both me and Shulk again wanting to take control over here. He knows he's in hot water for what he did, and I am sure the rest of the emperors feel the same way. If we lose, perhaps it is best for me and Shulk to move three steps ahead of Shadow and keep in Krystal over Knuckles, since me and Shulk believe that she is not a villain, and more of an honest, down to earth person. Based off of Knuckles's character, I would not be surprised if he is the type that will fight for anyone, including his fellow knights from Chatan. Nothing is for certain, but we have to take some precautions. For all we know, Knuckles could easily convince Krystal that it is best for them to overthrow the emperors once and for all."_

* * *

**Motobu**

**Day 17**

* * *

_Luigi, Foxy, Shovel Knight__, Roy, Freddy_

-/-

Luigi was standing in the middle of the beach looking up at the sky.

"And... I think it's gonna rain again... My guess that it's either gonna be either tonight or by the time we wake up tomorrow."

_"It's pretty interesting on how I was a fish out of water on my old tribe, and now, people aren't even looking at me right now... it seems... But no matter what it is, if no one is thinking of voting me out, that's always a good thing. I feel like if I can do whatever I can to keep my name off the radar, then I would be the last person people would think of. Hopefully I can pull it off just enough so that I can make it to the end of the game. And if I win, I would feel as if it will be my biggest accomplishment."_

While he was all alone, Shovel Knight and Foxy found the time to interact with one another.

"We're the only swapped tribe that has not attended Tribal Council yet." He informed. "Throughout this whole game I've only attended one tribal, and I'm starting to forget its appearance a little."

"I don't blame you." Foxy shook. "Whoever avoids tribal the most a season is always a good thing. ...But if we do go to tribal next, we're still set on voting for Freddy?"

"I believe it's our best interest. What about you?"

"_Well_," Foxy prepared himself to enlighten the shovel knight. "I think the threat level when it comes to Freddy and Roy is about the same, except we know who is more long term and who's not, so we could go either way. However, my only concern is that Roy would be a bit harder to get rid of. If Freddy gets to the merge, he would already have a target on his back for being physical. But if Roy makes it to the merge, then the target would be on somebody else like Shulk or even Shadow for instance. Roy for all we know can just survive these first couple tribals and then squeeze his way in, and he is more likely to be one of the last few emperors standing, and we're on the jury."

He nodded in agreement.

_"This Tribal Council may not be as significant as say for Chatan's, since they were the ones that went last time." Shovel Knight was found in the forest. "However, one of our main concerns is exactly how far would these two emperors go? They're both used to control and they both have the drive to whatever it takes to become the Sole Survivor. And in order for us to stay in control of the game, we have to send home just the right person, or else, worse case scenario, either of these two emperors would vote all of us out and none of us would be in the final three. We have to choose our moves carefully."_

"I mean honestly, I could go either way." Foxy put his hands out. "I am just trying to help out to do what's best for us."

"And I understand. I trust you. I'm still leaning towards Freddy, but I'll continue to think about it and then I'll see what Luigi thinks." Shovel Knight nodded immediately. "The emperors are used to winning, so now it's our turn."

"What would be even better is that in our best case scenario, maybe we can pull an emperor in if any of us find out that they are willing to work with us."

"...That... actually does sound better! That means that we would have even more room to work with!"

-/-

"Do you have an idol?"

_"Right now it's between Freddy and Roy for the Knights Alliance, but for me personally, it's obvious on who I wanna keep. And right now, Shovel Knight is leaning towards Freddy just a bit. I am trying my hardest to keep Freddy in over Roy for the sake of relationships, because if Roy leaves, that means Freddy not going home, while me not having to flip. Win-win. ...But it seems that they might not keep him in. And if I can't keep a possible ally, then that's not good for my game. Looks like I need to fight a little harder..."_

Freddy blinked at Foxy Michaels as they were standing by the water well.

"'Cause if you don't, pray you fine one or something. I might need to get you to write down Roy. They're throwing your name out there..."

"..."

* * *

**Day 17**

* * *

Although, that day's challenge was rather not an immunity challenge, yet it was still something the competitors had to compete at the end of the day. There were three color coded large mazes in the distance with ladders that were place through, making the small puzzles near the start looked as if they were nothing.

"Come on in, guys!"

And at that point, it started to rain yet again as the Nago tribe, followed by the Motobu tribe walked through the sand confidently standing on their mats.

"Nago, Motobu, get your first look at the new Chatan tribe... Pac-Man voted out at the last Tribal Council."

As some of the knights smiled out of reaction, literally none of the emperors made any sort of non-verbal, or verbal reaction at all. Clearly they were not impressed by the results.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?"

A mixture of verbal responses and claps were sounded.

"For today's challenge, one by one, you will each head into a large maze where you will use the ladders to climb up to hit a target. There are five in total. Each target has a set of puzzle pieces. Once you have retrieved all the puzzle pieces, you will use them to solve a puzzle. First team that finishes win reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"The winning tribe will get..." He revealed what he had under the cloth. "Seven pizzas."

The crowd got into a major uproar.

"Pepperoni, cheese, meat lovers, vegetaranian. Second place gets one pizza to share. And as usual, last place gets nothing." Master Hand confirmed. "Before we get started, Nago, Motobu, you both must sit somebody out. And whoever sits out this round _must _compete in the immunity challenge. Who's it gonna be?"

Nago and Motobu discussed.

"...I suppose I am sitting out, I guess."

"I'll sit out this time, master."

"Marth, Roy, take a spot on the sit out bench." The host pointed. "Everybody else, I'll give you guys a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For reward. Survivors ready?"

Shadow, Greninja, and Foxy all got into position.

"..._**GO!**_"

Three of the fastest runners this season all dashed off to the maze, climbing up the first latter and either running towards the left or right depending on where the first target stood.

"Amazing start so far!"

"Come on, Greninja!"

"You got this, Foxy!"

"Keep your focus, Shadow!"

"Shadow seems to be heading for the farthest target at the very top of the maze while both Foxy and Greninja are both starting from the bottom. Interesting strategy for Nago. Let's see how it would pay off..."

And because of that strategy, both Greninja and Foxy were the first to smash their targets using the team's hammer and were now collecting their puzzle pieces before they both began to make their way back down the ladders.

"Chatan and Motobu heading back!"

And they both returned to their mats about the same time.

"Go, Sheik! Go, Freddy!"

Luigi whispered to the rest of his team. "Do you think at this point maybe we should go for the furthest target?"

Foxy shrugged. "I dunno. Too late, now."

"We'll probably end up being up in a bit of a three way tied, anyway..."

Knowing that literally everyone was focused on the challenge, Roy took advantage of the situation and whispered to Marth, who was sitting on the opposite end of the sit out bench.

"...Marth?"

Lowell immediately turned. "Hmm?"

"...How did Mega Man get voted out?"

With one more look at the other competitors, Marth leaned his head closely. "Shadow flipped on him..."

"...Why?"

"He said that he thought that Mega was too big of a threat to keep around..."

"..." With a mouth half hung open with a single blink, Roy turned away and stared at Shadow directly, before back at Marth again. "That's _ludicrous_!"

"We need to all have a talk if we both get to the merge... All _six_ of us..."

"Hopefully I'll survive..."

"Go, Knuckles!"

Only a few seconds after Knuckles dashed off, back came Sheik from Chatan, with Freddy Fazbear coming a couple seconds later.

"Go, Bonnie! ...Go, Luigi!"

"Don't worry if the other teams are ahead!" Shulk recommended. "It's the strategy that counts!"

Knuckles obliterated his target using the hammer and immediately sprinted upon collecting his set of puzzle pieces. And while he was on his way down, Bonnie and Luigi were simply one row beneath him.

"I can't even tell you who's in the lead..." said Master Hand. "There was even a team from Kodai Island who used Nago's strategy before..."

By the time Knuckles the Echidna finally came back, Shulk was the next one to go, Bonnie and Luigi coming back to send out Zelda and Shovel Knight, with Chatan having a bit of a lead over Motobu.

Although, because of Nago's plan, they seemed to be back in the competition even though they were never truly out of it. Zelda and Shovel Knight had to travel all the way to the second to highest row in the maze while Shulk ended up being an entire floor beneath him, resulting in him having an easier turn then they had. Thus, because of the opposing teams using more time, he was actually able to break his target and release his puzzle pieces first.

"Come on, Shulk!" Knuckles was clapping his hands in front of him. "We're gonna pass 'em!"

"Shulk now coming back!" Master Hand announced. "Go, Krystal! Here comes Shovel Knight and Zelda right behind losing a bit of Chatan's lead! Those two teams seem to be tied, but Krystal only has to go to the second floor!"

Chatan and Motobu decided to send out Greninja and Foxy again as they had to travel all the way to top floor of the maze. And before they were even on the floor that had their last set of puzzle pieces, Krystal was already coming back.

"Krystal's here! Nago's sending out Shadow again as he only has to climb to the first floor, knowing how fast he is. Nago could take the lead right here!"

Shulk applauded.

Thus, when Greninja and Foxy were making their way down, so was Shadow as he came back with his pieces within no time at all.

"_Wow_!" Even Master Hand was amazed. "And just like that, Nago has stolen the lead! They can now start working on the puzzle!"

"Don't worry." Shovel Knight was still confident. "Let me have the puzzle. I'll catch up..."

"Nago has a _large_ lead right now!" Master Hand observed as Krystal was once again put into the puzzle make position of a challenge. On the previous challenge, her team was the first to complete it. Would she have been able to pull it off once more?

"Here comes Greninja and Foxy! They're still in this!"

"Okay, I am doing the puzzle." Zelda nimbly received the puzzle pieces from Greninja as she and Shovel Knight from Motobu finally began to work.

"Krystal had a time advantage on the puzzle, but it is already gone..."

Shadow the Hedgehog facepalmed as Knuckles shook his head.

"Shovel Knight meanwhile is working hard and if he is right so far, he has taken the lead right back from Krystal. But right now, all three tribes seem to be dead even..."

Luigi crossed his fingers.

"...Master! Master!" Shovel Knight was already calling out. "I am finished!"

"Motobu thinks they have it..." The reality television show host nimbly floated over to Shovel Knight's puzzle and he observed a picture picture of a samuarai.

"_**MOTOBU WINS REWARD!**_"

"We are now looking for-"

"Master! Master!"

"..."

"_**NAGO WINS REWARD!**_"

As a result, both teams ended up celebrating at the same time, Zelda heaving a heavy sigh as he still moved pieces around until her samurai picture was completed.

"Motobu, come get your reward. _Ten_ pizzas."

"Good luck, Marth."

"Thanks, Roy. Same to you. Hopefully we'll see each other soon..."

"We'll each carry two at a time." Shovel Knight raised a finger as he, Foxy, Luigi, Roy, and Freddy all dashed out to collect. "Perhaps Freddy can share a few stories with his pizzeria when we get back to camp."

"I'll be happy to."

"Nago, one pizza is still better than having nothing." Master Hand told them. "You guys are gonna have to share. Enjoy."

As Shadow, Marth, Knuckles, Krystal, and Shulk left, Zelda was already rubbing her face all over with her right hand.

"Chatan, got nothing for you. Head on back to camp."

_"What else can possibly go wrong here? This is the second time I was put into a position in this swap and once again, I did not deliver. And then to top it all off, I am the last emperor on this camp." Zelda sounded a bit depressed. "For me personally so far, this entire game had more lows than highs... I can not even find the right words to describe... I just have one question to ask myself. What more do I have to do, so that I can finally progress smoothly through this game?"_

* * *

**Okay, Zelda has to be the most unlucky castaway this season so far. The poor woman just can't ever catch a break and it's already her against the world right now since she's with three knights and she has even less room to do something about it... And also, people are telling each other everything, and at this point we're starting to have castaways that are only caring about themselves turning their individual game on lol. (Especially Nago. They're all over the place... again...)**

**Questions:**

**1\. Which of the three tribes do you see going to Tribal Council?**

**2\. Does Zelda have any hope left at this point?**

**3\. If Motobu goes to tribal, would an emperor leave, or a knight?**

**4\. How likely would Marth and Shulk trust Shadow moving forward?**

**Vote for your top five players this season and I will see you all on Saturday for the next immunity challenge and I encourage all Survivor underdog fans to review!**


	22. Chapter 22: Day 17 Pt 2 & Day 18 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 22 - Day 17 Part 2 and Day 18 Part 1

**Almost time for the merge, guys! This is the second to last chapter to it where next time, someone will barely miss the jury, and we all know that if we were out there it would be a shame to just miss out on making the merge/jury. You're one step closer, you're not the first person voted out, only needing to survive just one more Tribal Council, are your dreams are cut short... That's tragic...**

**Anyway, welcome back to another chapter. All three tribes are gonna get attention as usual, but this is the last time it's gonna be like that, since after this immunity challenge, the focus is gonna shift to the losers so we'll see their gameplan.**

**Enjoy!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Chatan**

**Day 17**

* * *

Quietly, Greninja, Zelda, Bonnie, and Sheik all returned to Chatan. And as Master Hand said, the group returned with absolutely nothing other than themselves as well as their personal belongings.

Unsurprisingly, no one was more saddened of their loss than Zelda.

_She sighed thinking everything over. "You know, part of me feels that I am generally surprised that I have made it this far. I could have been the first person voted out and let Peach take my place, or I could have been voted out again last night, and Pac-Man would have taken my place... But I'm still here, and unlike previously, I have no other options at this point. Perhaps it's the Goddesses that are looking after me at this point. This is the third time I couldn't complete the puzzle in time in this game, and twice in a row. People might think that it is not as big of a deal, but when you are out here constantly under paranoia, and fighting for your life just so you can see the next day, while at the same time making multiple sacrificing to save your own self, it is quite stressful and rather overwhelming..."_

She just sat in the shelter watching the fire being tended by Greninja as Sheik wrapped an arm around to rub her shoulder, as Zelda herself sat there, her face showing little to no emotion.

_"And the worst thing is since I have literally no options left since I am the only emperor on Chatan, I honestly would be very surprised if we go to tribal and I stayed somehow. This is actually giving me flashbacks to what happened in Hyrule when I had to fight to save my kingdom. The main difference is that this time, I actually have to fight for myself or else I will lie down at Tribal Council. I'm more used to helping others get through tough times, but since Survivor is a selfish game, I feel like I'm the knight here pushing through to get over my own obstacles just so that I can survive on my own. ...Maybe this experience is trying to teach me something just so that I can become an even stronger woman..."_

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 17**

* * *

_"Whew, I thought I was gonna blow it on the puzzle today, but at least I can in second place." Krystal heaved a big sigh of relief. "I mean, sure I lost nine pizzas. but one pizza should be enough to carry us all around until the merge feast gets here... **If** I get here. I **hope** I get there, and if I do, I need to figure out where each and everybody's heads are so that I know what to do for my own game here."_

However, the moment when both Krystal and Knuckles walked away from the shelter, the three emperors remained as Shadow started to talk.

"I don't know about you two," He said turning his head side to side. "but now that I think about it, something tells me that Krystal should sit out tomorrow's immunity challenge. I prefer it's good for her to sit out tomorrow or whenever we have our challenge because something tells me that she's not going to perform like she almost bombed this time."

"But Krystal still did good, though." Shulk took a slice of pizza out. "I just didn't expect Shovel Knight to be that good at puzzles, and we all know Zelda is good at puzzles."

"It still gives me some level of concern." Shadow disagreed shaking his head some more. "She should've done better."

"No." Marth did not agree. "I think that she did the very best she could. At least she was willing to do it, because she felt comfortable doing it last time. But I get what you're saying."

"And at least we didn't come in last." Shulk added. "You and Knuckles are both fast people and you two blazed through the challenge so that made up for it."

"Puzzles comes last in the challenges for the most part in Survivor." Shadow brought up. "It is not as if Krystal is the mastermind of puzzles over here, so if she's sitting out of the immunity challenge, that means that somebody else should do the puzzle."

Marth sighed and lifted his hand. "I'll volunteer for the puzzle, then."

"Though what if the challenge is also physical, though? Does that mean Krystal sits out, anyway? And what if the whole challenge is like a puzzle?"

"'The whole challenge being like a puzzle?'" Shadow repeated with a blink folding his arms. "So that would mean that _I_ would sit out, then?"

"No, no, that's not what I'm saying." Shulk held a hand out. "I guess it depends on what the challenge is..."

"I dunno..." He shook his head rapidly staring at the ground. "I feel like I'm needed at every challenge. I'm strong, I can run well, and I would not mind attempting at a puzzle that would save our lives."

"...Well, that depends on if you are really willing to do it, because I have yet to see you try a puzzle." Shulk recalled. "Just putting that out there..."

_"Don't worry, there's nothing going on around here." Shulk waved it off with a giggle. "Just three emperors debating on which employee or which one of us would do best at a certain aspect of the challenges. No arguing or anything, it's just how we communicate."_

-/-

"What'cha doing, Krys?"

"Oh, you know, just waiting for the next day to come as we always do." She replied to Shulk as she poured water into her canteen, taking the time to fill Shulk's up as well, Marth coming by a few seconds later.

"Let's just get right down to business." Shulk went straight to the point. "Me and Marth want to vote out Knuckles tonight. Neither of us want you going anywhere. But Shadow wants to vote you out."

"Okay..." She nodded.

"But the thing is, neither of us trust Shadow as far as we can throw him due to what he did in the past." Marth brought up. "Mega Man deserved to stay here. Not saying that Knuckles doesn't, but we generally think that you are a good person who we can afford to keep around. Knuckles on the other hand is most likely to become... basically a hothead..."

She actually laughed a little.

"As long as Shadow thinks we're doing Krystal, it doesn't matter who Knuckles votes for, because us three standing right here," Lowell pointed at everyone including himself individually. "these three votes are all we need, and then we can all happily make the merge."

_"Hmm..." Krystal placed a finger beneath her chin. "Interesting opportunity here. Marth and Shulk apparently don't trust Shadow, and so I guess they want to vote out Knuckles because that's how Shadow wants to stay, but apparently Marth and Shulk trust me more than they can trust Knuckles. I thought I was still the main target here, and I would want to help the knights keep as many numbers as we can, but I'm on the bottom of the totem pole, and if I have to vote out Knuckles just so I can live just one more day, as long as I'm not going home, I'm down."_

* * *

**Motobu**

**Day 17**

* * *

As for Freddy, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Roy, they could not have been any happier that they came in first place once again in a challenge, each of them carrying two pizzas.

"So should we just eat the two pizzas we're carrying?" asked Roy while they walked back towards the shelter. "I assume each person here has a different taste."

"Maybe we should open them all up, first." Shovel Knight recommended. "That way we can all decided on what everybody is going to salvage. This is the best reward so far!"

_"We have not one, not two, but **ten** pizzas!" Shovel Knight held out all ten of his fingers. "For all we know, this could very well lasts us until the merge, unless it's going to be something better. ...But then again, with conditions like this, the last thing we absolutely must do is waste food... But then **again**, knowing how hungry we all are, I wouldn't be so surprised if we all **somehow** eat our two pizzas before the merge. Though the bottom line is, we now have extra fuel for our next immunity challenge."_

"Honestly though," the knight was still speaking. "you all can take any pizza you want. I don't really mind. As long as we all have food, that's what matters the most. We need to eat all we can, when we can, or else we'll our starve."

"You don't have to tell me twice..." Roy replied with a laugh, Luigi setting his two pizzas down an opening one of them. "...I just don't know how are we going to wash this all down... Water from our canteens?"

Freddy shrugged at the thought. "Well, we clearly don't have soda here or anything. Maybe that should have been part of our reward as well, but I'm not complaining. Although, water and pizza are an awful combination..."

"Beats dying of thirst..." Luigi said.

-/-

"You know, even though we won today, I feel very sorry for Zelda right now..."

Freddy Fazbear was now interacting with Roy, volunteering to collect water for the group since they all never did it initially. The thought of food, especially with pizza being one of the most popular food dishes of all time, none of them wanted to wait any longer than they had to.

"I mean, I take one look at her," Freddy went on. "and she just looked miserable... I mean, this isn't the first time she lost a challenge because of her not completing a puzzle in time. And Pac-Man is already gone, so now the knights are going to have the numbers..."

"Zelda is a nice woman." Roy was in agreement. "It's really a shame of what she's going through. She can't even get someone to flip and vote with her at this point, because then it's gonna be a 2-2 tie, and then they're drawing rocks... Oh, by the way, I managed to have a conversation with Marth on the sit out bench."

"Good." Freddy nodded finding no problems with it. "Good thing there was only one bench for the two of you to sit on, because at this point the emperors need to talk while we can. What did he tell you?"

"I asked him what happened to Mega Man and he told me that Shadow turned and flipped on him leaving Shulk out of the loop."

Freddy paused frozen in place. "...Seriously?"

"No joke." Roy shook his head in confirmation.

"Did he tell you why?"

"I think we should ask Shadow himself..." The Young Lion started to walk again. "I believe the only person that would believe Shadow's logic is Shadow based on whatever he has to say..."

"Maybe Shadow felt that he was on the outs and he wanted to make a move against the rest of us or something..."

_"If Shadow was meant to be on the Emperors tribe, if anyone is living up to the name, it's him. I don't know what he was thinking, but thanks to Pac-Man's departure, we're down in numbers, and if we're all going to be in an alliance together, we need to figure out what to do from this point. Because for example, if this tribe loses immunity to other two, we cannot afford another emperor to go home..." Freddy explained._

"We should look for an idol, Freddy..." Roy suggested. "Knights lead 8-6. If someone from old Nago leaves again, it decreases our chances to win the game even more. We need to figure out a way to get the knights to turn on each other."

"Well, I think when it comes to those three, the most likely person that would be willing to flip is Foxy." The anthropomorphic bear informed. "I get a read on him that he's the type of person that will not reach the end of the game with a blank résumé. He might not have been wanting to flip before due to timing issues, but knowing that he has just enough room to work with, maybe if we both can talk to him a little more, he'd be willing to work with the both of us and we take Shovel Knight out."

"Sounds like a plan." Roy was fully on board. "We'll fight for each other in any way we can. ...But what if Shovel Knight has an idol?"

"Then we're gonna blindside him." Freddy answered. "He is the main threat in the Knights alliance right now because he **could** have an idol. Shovel Knight and Luigi will not know what's coming, so if Foxy can flip, then it would be something that neither of them would expect."

_"I still have plans on working with Foxy." The pizzeria boss wanted to make his message clear. "I don't wanna go home. However, Pac-Man and Mega Man leaving the game sent me a signal. Foxy wants me to get rid of Roy. He wants to flip, but he doesn't want to make Shovel Knight, Luigi, and the rest of the knights upset, and he's playing both sides as a result by leaking certain information to me so he won't be seen as the bad guy. But I think what's best for me is that I need to keep myself and Roy here at the same time. I don't know how I'm gonna get Foxy to blatantly flip on them, but I think what's best for the two of us is that we both vote for Shovel Knight. And since Foxy has more room to work with, maybe it'll be a little easier for him to be convinced than before..."_

* * *

**Day 18**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The fourteen remaining castaways in the game all came in walking through multiple paths until they all stood tall on the color coded mats near them.

"You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, I will once again take back the immunity idols..." Master Hand went on and took the idols from Luigi and Knuckles. "Once again, immunity is back for grabs, and we're here with a brand new Survivor challenge. It is called 'Mr. Sandbag.' For today's challenge, you are all gonna race out where you will find a giant sandbag underwater trapped in a cage. You will untie knots to open the door to the cage where you all will then drag out the sandbag, up the stairs, and across a balance beam over water. If just one person falls, that person will start again. If you fall out with the sandbag, then the whole tribe has to start again. Once you're back on the shore with the heavy sandbag, unzip it where you will collect pieces of a word phrase to solve it. First two tribes to solve the puzzle, win immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the seventh person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights."

"Now, before we start, Motobu, you have one extra person and you must sit somebody out. Roy sat out of the last challenge. Who's it gonna be this time?"

"Let Luigi do the puzzle. That sandbag might be large..."

"You sure?" Foxy asked.

"I'm positive..."

Shovel Knight raised his hand.

"Shovel Knight, take your spot on the bench." He pointed. "Nago, you also must sit somebody out. Marth sat out of the last challenge."

Krystal immediately lifted her hand in the air.

"Krystal, take your spot on the sit out bench. Everybody else, I'm gonna give you all a minute to strategize and we'll get started."

"Hello!" Shovel Knight greeted the vixen as she walked towards the bench to sit down near her fellow knight.

"Hi." She grinned warmly. "Remember me?"

He laughed. "I haven't forgotten about you."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity. Survivors ready?"

The three teams were ready more than ever.

"..._**GO!**_"

Nago, Chatan, and Motobu all raced out and got in the water, nimbly starting to swim away.

"Brand new Survivor challenge..." Master Hand announced. "All twelve of you must swim out to release that sandbag underwater. Just to remind you that it is going to be _heavy_. Don't underestimate it."

Greninja was leading the way when it came to the swimming as if being a lifeguard was his job. Shulk and Bonnie were not too far behind. Yet overall, in spite of the three knights of Chatan doing well with swimming, Zelda was left out, set to be the last one to be at the checkpoint.

"You're only as fast as your slowest swimmer... Go, Nago! Go, Motobu! Send two swimmers down to untie!"

Knuckles and Shulk were the ones that went down for Nago as Foxy and Freddy went down for Motobu.

"Come on, over here!" Within arms length, Sheik pulled Zelda along to the checkpoint.

"Go, Chatan!"

Greninja and Bonnie went down for the yellow team, which meant that half the competitors of the challenge appeared to be missing.

"...I can't even see what's happening down there." Master Hand snickered a little, Krystal and Shovel Knight from the sit out bench chuckling slightly.

Foxy briefly came up for air, and he came back down to finish his part while Freddy was more aggressive with those knots, yet right before he was about to finish, he, as well as Knuckles from Nago, had to come up for air.

"Keep going, Knuckles!" shouted Marth. "We're doing good!"

However, it ended up being Chatan that managed to finish their untying first, right before the Nago members, with Motobu finishing last.

"Come on!" Bonnie told his teammates as they all then went underwater together to drag the sandbag out and up the stairs.

"All three tribes seem to be now working with that sandbag. You have to pull it out of the cage and out of the water... Here comes Chatan and Nago! Motobu right there!"

Once the three competing teams have pulled their color coded sandbags (with two long black eyes on each of them) out of the water, they each had to bring the sandbags over their shoulders in preparation for the next obstacle.

"Now you have to carry the sandbag over the balance beam. This is by far the hardest part of the challenge..."

"Nice and slow. Don't rush..." Shulk told his team. Though for him his warning came a little too late, as Marth was already being clumsy and fell in. "..."

"Marth's gotta go back! Now it's going to be even trickier for Nago as they carry the bag."

"Motobu making a risky move speeding up the process a little." Master Hand noted. "Chatan taking their time. No rush at all... But they seem to have a great rhythm going..."

"Okay, I'm here, I'm here..." Marth was quickly back and now was helping with the sandbag once again.

Luigi wobbled a bit, yet Foxy acted instantly by lightly moving Luigi back to the center of the beam with his free hand.

However for Nago, Knuckles out of nowhere began to struggle having his balance.

"Stay _focused_..." Shadow grunted, only for Knuckles to fall off the balance beam before Shadow ended up going as well due to the weigh of the sandbag, Shulk falling in after losing control.

Krystal facepalmed.

"Nago falls in and loses their bag! Gotta get it back and head back to the start!"

Marth stood all alone. "..."

"Marth, just come back in..." An irritated Shadow commanded, with Lowell leaping back into the water to help with his team.

"Motobu almost at the end... and they're through!" Master Hand announced. "Run with that sandbag until you reach your mat to unzip!"

"Keep it up, Motobu!" Shovel Knight clapped from the bench.

"Chatan's through!" Hand watched Chatan speeding it up with the bag. "They were almost _perfect_ on the balance beam! ...Nago just now giving it another go..."

"We're still in this..."

"No we're _not_..." Shadow replied to an optimistic Shulk.

"Make sure we got everything..." said Greninja.

"You are looking for twenty-one letter tiles..." Master Hand stated.

By the time Nago was halfway through the balance beam taking their time, both Chatan and Motobu quickly retrieved all of their tiles and began work on their puzzles. Luigi and Roy represented Motobu while Zelda and Greninja represented Chatan.

"Trying placing a Y-O-U here..." Zelda told her fellow teammate.

"Here comes Nago! They are surprisingly still in this!"

"Don't lose hope yet, Shadow." Shulk spoke to the hedgehog.

"Whatever..." He wanted to ignore him at that point and start pulling out tiles.

"Try 'tonight' right here..." Luigi suggested to Roy pointing to the final word of the puzzle. "I think this is way easier than the last phrase we did..."

"Maybe because of that final word being too long..." Roy guessed.

"Shulk and Marth are gonna solve the puzzle!" Master Hand changed directions. "...But Motobu thinks they have something..."

"...Okay, we did it! I think..." Luigi stepped away from the puzzle, both he and Roy having their hands up. "Did we?"

Master Hand eyed the phrase.

"_**MOTOBU WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

"Yeah!" Luigi jumped with a fist in the air as he and the rest of Motobu celebrated their victory. "We did it!"

"We're looking for one more tribe..."

"Come on..." Shadow started to become annoyed, yet worried at the same time. "We gotta hurry..."

"Okay, 'fire' over here..." Zelda and Greninja were moving pieces as if there was no day nineteen for either of them.

"...Wait, wait, wait,..." With a single blink, Shulk began moving pieces all over the place. "'Tonight' is the big word..."

Marth began shuffling around as well.

"'Your' will be over here. Now let's finish the last word..." Zelda was quickly putting the final word together with Greninja's help.

"We got it! We got it!" shouted Greninja.

"Zelda, say it!"

"'You Keep Your Fire Tonight!'"

"_**CHATAN WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

Zelda could not have helped but yell a quick scream of joy as she and her team embraced, only leaving Shulk to stare at the final two words that were incomplete, Knuckles kicking sand away.

"Alright, here you go, Motobu." Master Hand was now handing out the immunity idols. "Immunity."

"That's just about right." Foxy nodded with hands on his hips as Shovel Knight came back.

"Head on out." He told them as he gave Chatan the second place idol. "Chatan, you all sounded like you needed it more than ever, and here you go."

Zelda gladly took it. "Thanks, master."

"You guys can head back to camp because no one will go home from your tribe."

Unfortunately for Nago, all they could have done was stare at them in disappointment of themselves.

"Nago tribe, Krystal, Shadow, Knuckles, Shulk, Marth, one of the five of you will be going home. You have the afternoon to figure out who's it gonna be. I'll see you all at Tribal Council."

The five of them picked up their belongings and began to head out.

_"Well, at least it's not all bad." Shulk glanced at the bright side of things. "At least we have the biggest chance of sending a night home. Although, due to trust issues with Shadow, I think it's about time for some payback."_

* * *

**I get really hyped when people start planning behind other peoples' backs for obvious reasons lol. Shadow, better be careful.**

**So because of Shadow flipping on Mega Man, I guess Shulk and Marth want a little revenge to prove that Shadow isn't the only emperor on that tribe. And if everything falls into place, someone is about to be blindsided lol. Also, congrats Zelda. You are not going home and you officially made the merge. Now your fanbase will officially catch a break, knowing that there's not going to be another side vote off after Peach and Pac-Man... You know what, Mega Man, too. Let's throw him in there because he did all he could for Shadow only to be chopped off by him lol.**

**As for Motobu, whew... I suppose it was a close call for Shovel Knight since he had the chance of being blindsided...**

**Questions:**

**1\. The answer to this is kinda obvious (lol), but do you feel bad for Zelda?**

**2\. (Now this time it's the question that is obvious) Who's about to go home from Nago?**

**3\. For Motobu, based on what was said today, would there have been any idol plays perhaps?**

**4\. Who is in the absolute safest position in this game so far?**

**As usual, if you haven't already, vote on your top five favorite/best players this season and I will see you on Wednesday for the final pre-merge/pre-jury boot of the season!**

**I encourage all Survivor fans to review!**


	23. Chapter 23: Day 18 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 23 - Day 18 Part 2

**Okay, so after we had our last challenge before the merge, this will be the last chapter and the last Tribal Council before the merge. And the funny thing is, this chapter was written the day after I posted the chapter where Cloud went home lol.**

**But now that this chapter is here, the Tribal Council right before the merge typically means a lot of things, and whoever is voted out will have to live with the fact that they were so close to making the merge for the rest of their lives. So... who's it gonna be?**

**Lemme reply to this guest review:**

_**Historyfan15:**_** First I wanted to get this out of the way by saying thank you for reviewing Kodai Island of how I portrayed Wolf! I kinda portrayed him to be a laid back kinda guy lol. But for this vote off here, yeah. There's a possibility that karma might bite Shadow in the butt after what happened. We'll see...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Nago**

**Day 18**

* * *

_"We blew it..." Shadow could not have believed it. "We blew it... We had **one** job. All we had to do was win today's immunity challenge, and we were not successful. We were all over the place, and we never got the job done. We **blew** it..."_

"I mean, if this was a fair game, Motobu should have had their fair turn to head to the Tribal Council." Marth opinionated. "Even though we are down in numbers, it just feels right and satisfying that Motobu had to go to tribal, since this tribe, plus Chatan, already had their turn to go. Throughout this entire pre-merge, Shovel Knight only attended one Tribal Council and you two are about to attend your fourth. It just doesn't sound fair in my opinion..."

"Well," Shulk shrugged. "I guess that's how the game goes. You win some, you lose some, and then sometimes things are just unpredictable. And if you look up the word unpredictable in the dictionary, the Survivor logo would be right next to it..."

Shadow had his arms folded staring at the ground. "We just need to make sure we're all on the same page over here... for _once_..."

Marth blinked. "For once? You were the one that turned on Mega, but I agree. We have to come to some form of agreement over here and send one of those knights packing. You're still on board with the Krystal plan?"

"One hundred percent." Shadow said with a nod. "If she goes home tonight, this game will be ours and we would move onto final four."

"Well, if we can somehow pull that off with six other knights in the way," Shulk reminded. "then I am down for it completely."

While Shadow turned away to walk off to the beach, Shulk turned to Marth to find him shaking his head with a sigh.

_"I am but a fool to believe that Shadow the Hedgehog will take me, Shulk, and Knuckles all the way to the final four. I don't think Shadow trusts either of us." The hero of Altea had his own plans. "And so, we do not trust him. However, the plan is to make Shadow trust me and Shulk to make sure that he writes down Krystal, and me, Shulk, and Krystal write down Knuckles. The most we can do is to not allow Shadow to get his way for once if we can not vote him out. He's still an original emperor, so I still somehow trust him more than any knight here... I do not know if that makes some sort of sense, but the more original numbers we have, the better for us all. We have to break them up. I still have my hidden immunity idol, and it is under my full protection."_

-/-

"Do we need to have a big discussion over it?"

Shadow watched Knuckles using his buff that was normally worn around his neck so that he can wipe his dreadlocks.

"I don't think we should if we both know what we need to do... Do you think Marth and Shulk are talking about you behind your back?"

"I know they are; most likely they are still complaining about Mega not being here every two seconds." Shadow hypothesized. "However, what happened in the past is irrelevant... for now... What is most important is that I need you here, and _now_. If you leave, it could blow up my game. We vote Krystal tonight, and that is it."

"...But wait, who does _she_ think people are voting for?" Knuckles raised an invisible eyebrow.

The other Mobian shrugged and glanced off a little. "I mean, if it's you, I will not be surprised. However, Krystal is kinda quiet. And the quiet ones sometimes can be pretty sneaky. If she knows what's going on, we're in trouble. We need to make her think she knows everything and who everybody's supposed to be voting for... Are you okay with deception?"

"Dude, deception is part of Survivor. If we need to come up with a story, that will be it..." Knuckles was now rinsing his buff out. "What do I need to tell her?"

"...Well, let's just say that I want to get rid of Marth. We both know Marth's a threat because of the remaining emperors in the game, Marth's the only person of our original tribe that has an idol. I do plan on getting rid of it somehow, so I think your case to Krystal would be to tell her that I'm planning on flipping against Marth so that he'll go home with an idol in his pocket. She should be able to bite it with ease if she gets the chance to save both you and herself."

_"I really do like Krystal, but nothing can change the fact that I am on the bottom of the original Knights tribe, and so I want the chance to get out somebody that's in the majority." Knuckles had his back against a rock watching the waves crash down on the beach. "Sure, I hate to write her name down, but the Knights Alliance is already in the majority, anyway. If I told her that Marth's going home because of Shadow flipping again, that's the only way I could stay here, because if she's backed up into a corner, she would not be afraid to write my name down, too. And then when Krystal leaves, I can pretend that it's not my fault, because they would assume that Marth, Shadow, and Shulk dictated the vote. But the way things are going... it's obviously gonna be much more complicated..."_

"..." Knuckles had his mouth hung open a little. "...Okay... A little evil, but sweet! I'm all over it. As long as I'm staying here, that's what counts the most."

-/-

"Finally found you."

Startled a bit, Krystal actually jumped a little to see Knuckles approaching the water well.

"Oh, hahaha. Sorry about that..."

"Guess I should make a little more noise next time." The echidna suggested crossing his arms. "So, are we gonna write down each other?"

"Well,..." She sighed, not even surprised that Knuckles came to her about it first. "I'm afraid it's the only way out of it. Don't be too upset if you have write down mine tonight. The knights tribe already has the majority at merge, and if one of us is the sacrificial lamb, then at least we helped give our friends a big chance of winning this game. I feel like both of us lived to our name rather well. ...Then again, if you have an idea, then now's the perfect time to tell me, since I'm not the type that would easily roll over and die."

"Alright, then. Good news... Shadow has a plan." He grinned.

"Oh?"

"He wants to flip against Marth with an idol in his pocket." He began to elaborate. "He knows that he's the reason to why the emperors are now down in numbers, Shadow thinks that he might as well vote out anyone he wants while he can since he knows he was at the bottom of his old tribe. His logic is that if he votes out Marth, that it would cause the rest of the knights to trust him so that they can bring him in as far as they can."

Krystal McCloud's eyes immediately widened at the start of Knuckles's explanation. "Ooh... This sounds rather interesting... So clearly he has no regrets at all betraying Mega."

"Indeed." He nodded in reply. "Shadow's the type of person that will flip and turn on anyone to make it as far as possible to win the game without a care in the world. He's got something up his sleeve. And knowing this in mind, when we both get here on day nineteen at merge, we're gonna use this whole thing to _our_ advantage so we can move forward and keep in whoever we want. You down?"

"Of course I'm down." The vixen laughed. "This is just awesome."

_"**Dang**..." Krystal could not have believed it. "I feel like I'm the lady of the hour over here. One minute Marth and Shulk come by and tell me to blindside Knuckles that will tick off Shadow, next minute here comes Knuckles telling me that Shadow wants to blindside Marth with an idol in his pocket and that will tick off Shulk again. Never thought I would be a swing vote here, but whatever works for me, I'll jump right onto it... But the thing is, **both** situations can work for me."_

"You think we should head back to camp before they all think we're hunting for idols?"

"Yeah, let's leave this place..." Knuckles nodded as the two exited the area.

_"At first I thought that I had no other choice but to vote off Knuckles just to save my own skin, because I'll be with my fellow knights anyway, but now I can either do that, or vote Chatan strong and send Marth packing, where I get to keep the both of us here... and me and Knuckles didn't have to do anything! This is allll old Nago. Battle of the emperors here. I hope my husband and son brought their popcorn so they can see how these emperors act around here."_

"Are we all ready to go?"

"Not yet, one sec..." Knuckles answered Krystal as everyone turned to see him drinking from a coconut. "Okay, I'm good."

_"I don't know if you should really feel evil for being an emperor or not, since not all emperors gotta be evil." Shulk said with a headshake. "However, I feel like that things aren't exactly turn out the way one would expect. And as long as I know what would happen, I'd feel excited and satisfied."_

He, Marth, Shadow, Knuckles, and Krystal all grabbed their torches and left their camp.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 18**

* * *

The swapped Nago tribe all entered the Tribal Council area and sat down in their spots, with Shulk, Krystal, and Marth all sitting at the top, Knuckles and Shadow remaining on the bottom.

"Alright." Master Hand got the conversation going. "So, here we are again at Tribal Council. Three emperors, three knights, this time with Marth Lowell who has returned from Exile Island a while ago after Mega Man was voted out."

He nodded.

"Speaking of Mega Man, who was also an emperor, was blindsided the last time you all were here. Shulk," He pointed. "what happened?"

"Well, it was quite obvious what happened. Someone decided to make a move and flip." He hunched his shoulders rapidly shaking his head. "I guess they figured that since Marth was an emperor sitting on the jury bench, he was gonna come back to this tribe, anyway. So Shadow decided to turn on Mega, and now Marth is the replacement for the group..."

"...Shadow?"

"Master Hand, a phrase said during a past immunity challenge to not waste an opportunity, and that was what the challenge told us to do, and I did just that." He defended. "I had an opportunity in front of me to pull the trigger against Mega Man, and I own up to it to this day."

"Marth, what was your reaction when you got back to camp?" Master was curious.

"I was just absolutely stunned at the result." Marth's head shake proved that he was still not over it. "I thought we were supposed to be a team. If we were going to eat one of our own, it always has to be at the right time. The emperors had the disadvantage in the swap overall, and one of us is _still_ the first victim because of it."

"I still think that it was the right time." Shadow turned his head directly to Marth's.

"But, Shadow, listen... I understand that at times you only have to care about yourself and your own decisions in the game, but at the same time, everyone is aware that playing by your lonesome is not going to get anyone anywhere. Balance is key. For example, look at what happened. Pac-Man has been eliminated." Lowell recalled. "And if swapped Chatan was sitting here right now, Zelda would be making her final plea deal only to be voted out the island right after Pac-Man, making everything worse for the rest of us. The Survivor Gods sent us here one last time for a reason."

"And what would that be, Marth?" asked the master.

He sighed. "I just want to do what is best for all of us. I still want to work with you, Shadow. We are coming into the merge down in numbers, now the Knights Alliance has the numbers advantage. We are already planning how we are going to work together to..._ somehow_ get the majority back, but if we're going to be down in numbers, voting off a knight tonight would at least increase our chances, even though not all off the emperors trust each other because of what happened."

"Really?" Shadow popped an invisible eyebrow. "Last time I checked, you said it would have been more fair for Motobu to be sent to tribal since they never went, and you even said that Shovel Knight only attended Tribal Council once."

"Indeed I said that." Marth nodded in confirmation. "...However, at this point, I understand why the Survivor Gods chose us instead. If we can just come to an agreement, it would help all of us. Mega Man is already eliminated, but it doesn't mean that we do not have another opportunity at this moment."

...

"Krystal, so far this entire discussion has been about voting someone off based on who seemingly had the favor in the tribe shuffle, and there has been a lot of talk about voting off a knight tonight, and neither you nor Knuckles have spoken. What's your opinion of it either though you were on the emperors' opposing tribe?"

"Well,... I guess I can only root for my people to stay in the game, hahaha!" She took a moment to laugh. "Sure, if I was in Marth's shoes, I would do what's best for myself and for the rest of the tribe, while at the same time, if you feel threatened, then you cut people off when necessary. I was almost voted out last tribal, but Shadow for some reason felt threatened by Mega Man. I don't know why for certain, but as long as both me and Knuckles are still in the game, I guess whatever happens is good for the both of us."

"You agree with that Knuckles?"

"Yeah, I agree." He bobbed his head up and down. "Me and Krystal are like the sacrificial lambs just to save the rest of the knights, but I felt extremely relieved after last tribal. However,... this time in particular, most likely it's between me and her."

"Oh, so you _don't_ think another emperor is getting his torch snuffed tonight."

Turning his head side to side slowly, he gave out a sigh. "I believe we have no other choice. The chances of one of us leaving are even greater this time. The emperors might have came back together and came to an agreement like Marth said, and like I said before, me and Krystal are the sacrificial lambs here. And if it means a lot to the rest of the knights so none of them are going home, so be it."

"Shulk, if a knight goes tonight, how will you, Shadow, Marth, and the rest of the emperors plan to get the majority back over the knights?" The hand wondered. "You would have to go through at least two Tribal Councils for two knights to be eliminated back to back."

"Well, I guess we have to do what other people do." He replied. "Look for the cracks. As the old saying goes, in literally every single alliance, there's always somebody at the top, and somebody on the bottom. I think Shadow might have felt that way, but in my opinion, if I was in his shoes, I would have waited at least a couple more tribals for the backstabbing."

"You have your opinion, and I have _mine_..."

"I know, that's what I said..."

"_Whatever_..."

Marth facepalmed, while Krystal nearly covered her whole face hiding a laugh, Knuckles not afraid to grin largely shaking his head.

"Well, here we have the Emperors Alliance being all over the place right now having a debate, and on the other hand," Master Hand held his hand out to Knuckles and Krystal. "we have the knights wanting to fight for each other, even though it seems that it's unlikely that both of them will survive. _But_, you all only come to tribal to vote off _one_ person. Let's see who that would be. It is time to vote. Shulk, you're up."

"Whew..." The heir to the Monado said as he got up from his spot and took his time in heading over to the booth.

"I'm afraid due to trust issues, the sacrificial lamb is you buddy. Sorry."

After he folded his piece of parchment up and placed it in the urn, by the time he came back it was Krystal's turn to vote, who was rather patient about writing the name she wanted.

Following Marth, up next with Shadow writing down Krystal.

"This was the plan only if we lost. Otherwise, I would have tolerated working with you. But unfortunately, you are not the number one priority."

Once Knuckles voted, he nimbly sat down and waited for Master Hand.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Knuckles had a thumb beneath his chin as Marth stared at the master tallying the votes patiently, Shadow on the other hand not even looking in that direction.

The large, white-gloved like hand came back.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

...

Marth just blinked.

"Okay. Once the votes are read the decision is final, person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Shulk watched the master uncap the urn.

"First vote... Knuckles."

"..."

"...Krystal. One vote Krystal, one vote Knuckles."

Shadow cocked his head to the side with tied up arms.

Knuckles and Krystal exchanged glances for a moment.

"Krystal."

"...?"

That was when the vixen looked confounded.

"Two votes Krystal, one vote Knuckles."

Shulk had a slight smirk on his face.

"Marth."

Lowell immediately lowered his head with a jaw dropping expression raising both of his eyebrows.

Shulk was suddenly eyeing everyone confusingly.

"Two votes Krystal, one vote Knuckles, one vote Marth, one vote left..."

Shadow curled up his lips.

"...Knuckles."

Shadow the Hedgehog unfolded his lips and he and Knuckles stared at one another, before the hedgehog almost instantly turned to Marth and Shulk, who were just as confused was Krystal. Basically, Master Hand was witnessing the bewilderment looks of literally the entire tribe.

"We're tied. Two Knuckles, two votes Krystal."

Marth shifted from Krystal to Knuckles, to back at Krystal again, ending up eyeing Shadow the longest who was staring back in return.

Knuckles was also eyeing Shadow with his hands up in the air.

"What just happened?" Shulk whispered.

"So here's what we're gonna do." Master Hand moved onto the next step. "We're gonna have a re-vote. Knuckles, Krystal, you will not vote. Everybody else, you can only vote for Knuckles and Krystal. Shulk, wanna come grab the urn?"

"..." Instead of him walking to the voting urn, Marth chose to lean over to whisper to Shadow, the blonde man promptly heading over.

"What was that about?" He asked.

"Who wrote my name down?" Marth whispered to the anthropomorphic animal.

"Okay..." Master Hand noted. "Maybe he _doesn't _wanna come grab the urn..."

Krystal leaned in closer to Knuckles to whisper.

"I thought Marth's name was supposed to come up thrice. Why did his name only come up once, and mine _twice_?"

"I dunno..."

"...You don't _know_?"

"What was the plan we discussed before?" Shadow was heard. "I told you both on what we were going to do. Knuckles' name came up twice tonight."

Knuckles himself headed over to see the black hedgehog himself as Shulk and Marth were now having their own conversation.

"How did my name come up?"

"I... don't know... I thought the plan was to vote out Knuckles. Did _he_ write your name down?"

"Were they coming after me?" Knuckles questioned his fellow Mobian. "If Krystal would have voted for me I would have been voted out!"

"I could have sworn I had them in my pocket, but I guess now I'm glad we discussed something else before we came here..."

"Well, I can't vote anymore. You three are gonna have to decide..."

Shadow promptly butted in Marth and Shulk's conversation.

"Look, let's talk _one more time_. Who are we voting out?"

The two knights meanwhile were back in their spots eyeing the master.

"_Well_..." He said. "I guess for the first time in Survivor history, people have decided to whisper _after_ the votes have been read resulting in a tie..."

Shortly after, the emperors of the swapped Nago tribe all sat back down.

"...So _Shulk_,... _now_ are you ready to come grab the urn?"

"I guess so..." He responded.

"Okay, come on and get it."

Master Hand gave Shulk the urn and he made his way back to the voting area to place the urn down and voted again, Marth Lowell and Shadow the Hedgehog following his lead.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

After he left, Krystal turned her head side to side thinking over what just occurred.

Master Hand was now back.

"I'll read the votes..."

Literally no members from the tribe made any kind of reaction or emotion.

"First vote..."

...

"Krystal."

Not even a blink. Shulk and Marth eyed each other once more.

Knuckles still sat frozen.

"Seventh person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Krystal. That's two, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

"Wow..." She got up from her spot and grabbed said torch, literally no one looking at each other anymore, with the exception of Knuckles watching the vixen making her way to Master Hand.

"Krystal, the tribe has spoken."

_Snuff_.

"Time for you to go."

After she left, Shulk turned to Shadow once more, who was too busy staring at the ground.

"Well,..." Master Hand spoke his final words for the night. "...even though a knight was voted out tonight, for some reason, it was just a bit more complicated for the emperors to do so. I don't know the details of what just happened, but I guess I'm gonna let you all return home and discuss it from there. Grab your torches, head back to camp. ...Goodnight."

They all stood, retrieved their torches, and exited the tribal.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Marth**** \- Knuckles**

**Shadow**** \- Krystal**

**Shulk**** \- Knuckles**

**Krystal**** \- Marth**

**Knuckles**** \- Krystal**

_**Re-Vote:**_

**Marth**** \- Krystal**

**Shadow**** \- Krystal**

**Shulk**** \- Krystal**

_**14th Place:**_** Krystal**

**2-2-1 ; 3-0**

* * *

_"Shadow the Hedgehog is a master manipulator, hahaha. Seriously. I really thought he would vote out Marth today. Knuckles played me as well. I had a good time out here, I was trying to play mostly an anybody-but-me, under the radar game, but I guess if this is how they get players like me out, congrats to them for that I guess... Dang, Knuckles. Hahaha!"_

* * *

**_Castaways Remaining:_**

**Marth, Shadow, Shulk, Knuckles / Sheik, Greninja, Bonnie, Zelda / Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Roy, Freddy**

* * *

**(The numbers at the bottom where "14th Place" is how the vote went. Krystal went home in a 2-2-1 ; 3-0 vote since it was a tie at first.)**

**So even though we can thank the Shadow-Knuckles duo for making this move, the entire tribe was still blindsided for different reasons as three of the five people received votes. Shadow manipulated Krystal into thinking that he was gonna flip against Marth, since he knew that Krystal would think of him as a backstabber to his tribe after Mega Man's blindside. But dang, Krystal (lol)... You could've made a lot further, Krystal. But like she said herself that Shadow was a "master manipulator. Now her husband, Fox McCloud (who competed on the last season), is gonna find out what happened.**

**Okay, with that out of the way, this is it. This was the _last_ chapter before the merge, which means that all the tribes will come together on the next day, with thirteen people left in the game. It's really amazing on how we're through the pre-merge already! And because of that taking place, I can finally start planning my next season. Major announcements tomorrow!**

**Questions:**

**1\. What was your reaction of this vote?**

**2\. What was your reaction of the tribal altogether (lol)?**

**3\. Who is the biggest threat of the whole game right now?**

**4\. What would your boot order of this season would be at this point?**

**Watch the official YouTube intro of the season, vote for your top five players for this season, and next time, it's gonna be a big day. Can't wait for next time and I encourage all Krystal fans to review! ...She will be missed lol.**


	24. Chapter 24: Day 19 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 24 - Day 19

**Well, it's official. It's finally time that we move into second phase of this game, "the merge." Those of you who don't know, the merge is when all the tribes come together (two or more), and depending on the amount of players in a season, the "jury" is set to start soon, which means that whoever is voted out in this phase in the game will be part of a "jury" where the players will be sitting on a bench across from the remaining players where the must attend subsequent Tribal Council to observe since that's how the people decide who to vote for to win a million dollars in the end in the finals (like last season and most of Survivor's recent season, there is going to be a final three on day 39, and since there are twenty players this season, whoever the first post merge boot is will be the first member of the jury like in most seasons that has 20 contestants these days (some seasons have 18 players for example where the first post-merge boot for some of the seasons is actual the final member of the "pre-jury" so they just missed out lol).**

**So we have thirteen people remaining in the game (Shulk, Foxy, Marth, Shadow, Zelda, Freddy, Greninja, Bonnie, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Roy, Luigi, and Sheik) after Krystal, Pac-Man, Mega Man, Rouge, Ghirahim, Cloud, and Peach exited the game. At this point we have seven knights and six emperors with the former tribe barely having the majority. These thirteen contestants will battle it out as strategy kicks up where the contestants will compete in _individual _immunity challenges while making move to not only get each other out of the game, but also by managing the jury on why they are worthy of earning the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollars.**

**We'll see what happens from here on out, and then I'm officially going to make my announcement for my next season (FINALLY)!**

**Guest review reply time:**

_**Historyfan15:**_** I really like Wolf since I played Command (first StarFox game) and now look where I am lol. StarFox is generally underappreciated in the Smash franchise and based on my avi I'm clearly a Fox McCloud lol. But for Krystal in particular, yep, I've noticed that myself the moment she became eliminated, which is quite funny by the way lol.**

**(And for the record, as a reminder from the first chapter, for those who read Kodai Island, I _highly_ recommend you avoid the review page due to possible spoilers (don't worry, for those who comment about Kodai Island there, I still encourage you to do so to compare!))**

**~KF**

* * *

**Nago**

**Night 18**

* * *

_Shulk, Knuckles, Shadow, Marth_

-/-

**_BOOM!_**

In a bit of a hurry, Marth, Shulk, Shadow, and Knuckles all laid down their torches against the same tree, subsequently climbing into the shelter as the rain was pouring a lot harder than before at the time. No one even knew rain was scheduled for that night, since to the four competitors, the precipitation came out of nowhere, and they had to make their move back to camp fast.

However, rain was not exactly the first priority to be discussed with one another, since now they had to recover from their most recent Tribal Council.

_"Okay, this was my absolute weirdest tribal ever so far." Shulk shook his head. "I... Me and Marth were dead set on voting for Knuckles, but... I don't know what happened... at all. I was gonna talk with the other two emperors separately, but it was raining. And at that point, I wanted answers as quick as I could have, so we all had a whole discussion about it as a group..."_

"I mean, I am just as confused as ever..." Marth could not have believed it. "Why did Krystal put my name down?"

"Why did _you two_ vote for Knuckles when Krystal was the plan?" Shadow on the other hand believed his question was superior. "Was she not the plan that we discussed?"

"But we thought that Krystal would have been most trustworthy." Marth chose to keep half the truth a secret. "So, me and Shulk voted together and we told Krystal to vote with us because we thought we had enough votes to take out Knuckles."

"If she was more trustworthy," Knuckles the Echinda himself spoke up. "then why she did put your name down tonight? She was clearly Chatan all the way because she thought she had an opportunity to make a move.

Shadow nodded in agreement. "I was approached by Krystal myself. Since she knew that you two were going to vote for Knuckles she thought she could swing me over and take Marth out for having an idol. I had to tell her that it was what I was planning to just to make her believe it, but I knew, that we all knew, we needed a knight out of here. She thought she had Knuckles, but if Knuckles himself didn't want to work with Krystal, why would you two?"

...

"Exactly... Krystal voting for one of us and Knuckles voting for her as a sacrifice says it all..."

_"Making Krystal vote for Marth was actually the Plan B, so I will admit that I was still sort of surprised that Marth and Shulk voted for Knuckles." Shadow admitted "That means that they probably told Krystal to vote for Knuckles, which means that if me and Knuckles never told Krystal to vote for Marth, Knuckles wouldn't be sitting here right now."_

"Bottom line is that we're all still here, and we're all going to the final four."

Shulk sighed and Marth shook his head, still in disbelief as neither responded verbally initially.

But then Lowell had his final words for the night.

"Let us simply prepare for tomorrow. Let's just go to sleep..."

_"I thought that me, Shulk, and Krystal had a plan. The plan was to vote out Knuckles since we figured that he would be more untrustworthy than Krystal in the merge, but then apparently Krystal written my name down, and I guess that was when things changed. I was honestly surprised coming from Krystal..." He was silent for a moment. "Perhaps both of them were untrustworthy, though it was Krystal that targeted one of us, so in reality, she was more untrustworthy than Knuckles, so me and Shulk had no choice than to vote her out."_

**_BOOM!_**

No other words were spoken as the quartet of survivor laid there ignoring the storm.

_"All I have to say is that it was a rather good thing that neither Shadow nor Knuckles voted with Krystal, since worst case scenario, I would have looked like a fool being sent home with an idol in my possession..."_

* * *

**Day 19**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The Motobu and Chatan tribes all came through the fields and onto the sand in front of Master Hand.

"Knuckles is still here..." Bonnie blinked.

"Motobu, Chatan, get your first look at the new Nago tribe... Krystal voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Nothing too much from the other two, yet somewhat it was still an eyebrow raising moment for the other ten castaways.

"Dang..." said Greninja.

Nago made it to their mat.

"Alright." Master Hand 'nodded.' "Let's get right on to it. Everybody... drop, your, _**buffs**_... We are _**merged**_."

An almost instant celebration occurred with the remaining Survivor competitors, most of them cheering with joy, the tribes already coming together to either greet new castaways that never met at that point, or sharing friendly hugs to say hello once again to the people that they had already known previously.

"Here you go." The host of the show passed Luigi a basket containing thirteen items wrapped up in pieces of cloth. "Take one and pass it around."

"Yeah!" He said, taking his as if it was the number one toy he wanted from the store, wasting no time in unwrapping it.

Shulk revealed his buff. "Black is the color this season..."

"Hmph..." Shadow stared at his then looked at his fur. "How convenient..."

"Hey, Knuckles," Sheik called out. "maybe you can wrap your buff around your dreadlocks."

"Nah." He immediately shook ignoring a few laughs putting it around his neck. "They'll be too closed and tight together and will make my head hurt."

_"Hmm... Seven knights, six emperors..." Greninja thought out loud sitting by the water. "Seems like the merge is pretty sweet. I was just thinking about my swapped tribe of Chatan having just four people, but we all survived. But now, the top dogs entering the merge with numbers would have been expected, and I was preparing myself to deal with being on the bottom for a while, but surprisingly things worked out in **our** favor. I think I feel tight with each of them, so hopefully things will go smooth for my game so I can make it as far as possible."_

"Now, typically at this point in Survivor, we have a merge feast." Master Hand explained. "And of course, that is going to be the case. But we're gonna do it Japan style. Just several yards away is a sushi feast right over there."

-/-

_"What a great experience this has been for me so far." commented Roy. "Now I am at a merge having a feast with twelve other strangers. But living out here with barely any food at all day by day with these people, the fact that none of us know each other in real, regular life is completely irrelevant. What an excellent way of making new friends if I do say so myself. I can easily see in the future of me being friends with the people I am sharing this experience with, which makes it certainly more special. I might be stranded out here in Japan, though instead of being stranded alone, I suppose we're all stranded, while stood having a good time together. With that being said, I'm really starting to like it out here."_

"Hey, maybe Freddy should have people serve all of us now that we're all sitting here eating."

The people of the merged tribe were salvaging as much food as possible. Sushi, tempura, spicy chicken, and other food items were being shoved down their throats, no one ashamed of the mess some was making on their faces.

"Maybe I would have my team help take care of all of you right now." Freddy Fazbear answered Shulk. "But unfortunately, my crew is not here right now. Maybe you all can take a trip to where I live and I will show you around."

"Sounds good." Shulk nodded, taking a bit of his spicy tuna roll to which Greninja noticed.

"Hey, where did you get that from?"

"Near the center over there."

"Hand that plate over here." Shovel Knight raised his hand. "I need another one."

"Wow, Shovel." Sheik commented with a slight chuckle. "I never knew you were such a fan of spices."

"Well, they make some of these back at home, and I sure miss how they tasted." He replied, being handed over the plate from Greninja.

_"I honestly can't believe that I'm still here right now." Luigi grinned. "I went from being pointed out as one of the two weakest from my tribe on day one, to nearly being voted out at my first Tribal Council, to winning all the immunity challenges in the swap, and now at this point in the game, I know people are gonna go after the threats, specifically the physical threats in the game, and I appear to be in the majority with my alliance."_

"Can you believe how much soy sauce there is here?" He was asked a question by Roy. "I mean, seriously. They really made sure we had enough. Probably because some of us are using more than others."

"Yeah, I agree with that." Luigi took his cap off to scratch and placed it down on the bench. "There's even a lot of duck sauce packets at the center of the table. Even the staff realize how staring we all are."

_"For me personally, since the threats are gonna be targeted first, I think I already know where I stand. So right now for my game, I am gonna try my best to not be on everyone's radar by stepping back and just do what everybody tells me to do so that I won't be seen as a threat. People are smart in Survivor, and they could look at my game being as this sort of underdog story, and that would be a huge problem. So as long as I just nod my head and agree and just listen to what everybody has to say, I think I'll survive at least the first few Tribal Councils post-merge. Though if I feel that if I'm in trouble, the hardest part would be what will I have to do to get the target off of myself without making me even more of a target by playing too aggressively even though I'm the exact opposite of an aggressive person. ...Yeah, this game is pretty challenging."_

* * *

_**Merged Tribe**_

**Day 19**

* * *

_Greninja, Marth, Shadow, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Freddy, Sheik, Bonnie, Roy, Zelda, Knuckles, Marth, Luigi_

_-/-_

_"So people really wanted to be on the Motobu beach." Bonnie informed. "There have been people that said that they are a fan of trees, people not being a fan of trees, one tribe has a lot of trees, the other doesn't have nearly as much, but apparently Motobu had a little bit of both. Though the only problem was that the five people that were on there of course only made a shelter for five people and none of us wanted to put in the work to make enough room for eight more. So we decided Shadow who didn't mind the trees and Luigi who didn't mind the extra space and had them to a classic game of rock-paper-scissors, and Shadow won. Nago beach it is. Good thing Nago won the extra tool supplies because swapped Chatan were so excited on possibly merging that we all actually forgot to bring that shelter making kit."_

With a new black flag representing the tribe, all thirteen of the remaining players had their eyes staring down on it as it lied in the sand.

"Alright..." Shulk blinked. "Now we need to come up with a tribe name..."

"Any of you think we should just combine Nago and Chatan and make it 'Chago' or 'Natan' or something?" Bonnie raised an invisible eyebrow.

"Meh, I wouldn't say that I'm not down for it, but it has become a trend as of late and I honestly find that a bit repetitive. Maybe we can all think of something that fits Japan rather well, since this is the newest location of the show."

"Valid point." Bonnie saw where he was coming from. "I'm honestly shocked that we're all here right now, let alone realizing that this is the _second_ time they're doing Survivor in Japan. I thought that there was such a small window to do it."

"Well then again, we're on an island and not on the mainland, so they all probably thought that it was much easier to do it this way." Roy assumed. "Though as long as we're on something that is part of Japan, that's all that matters."

"If some of you aren't the best with names, I'll be more than happy to step in." Marth volunteered. "What do you all think of Bikutā?"

"Bikutā?" Freddy rotated his head. "What does that mean?"

"It's japanese for victor, and I believe that we all proved to be victorious in life in our own individual way." He elaborated. "Every last one of us has overcame something, whether it'd be a personal obstacle or simply something we never thought we would accomplished. Even if one feels like he or she hasn't accomplished anything major, we've all accomplished something by simply being called for the show so that we can all be a part of this amazing theme this season."

"...Alright!" Shulk clapped as well as some others of the new tribe of Bikutā. "Sounds great to me!"

"Let's do it!" Greninja was on board.

"I'll get the paint..." Zelda was now walking away.

"Hey, maybe we should all check out Nago's beach afterwards."

_"We are tribe Bikutā for now on." Marth confirmed. "Some of us have been dominant in life, some of us had to deal with personal struggles, stress, find their footing, whatever everyone of us had to go through, we proved to be noticed or strong in such a way that we were able to step over and dominate anything that got in our path, and that can be broken down to simply applying for the show knowing what we were all getting ourselves into. That alone is enough for a sense of accomplishment knowing the great risks of being out here. At the end of the day, we should all feel very proud of what we achieved throughout life, big or small. Everyone deserves to feel welcomed here. I may not have met everyone yet as of now, but that only means that now is the perfect opportunity to make new friends even if I'm only going to be the first member of the jury with the only three days I might have out here."_

The flag that had the season's logo was now signed by the remaining competitors in the game, as well as the new tribe name in big white letters.

-/-

Sheik, Bonnie, Shulk, Greninja, Roy, Knuckles, Luigi, and Foxy were all either sitting or standing in the water chatting about.

"So me and Shulk never been on Chatan." said Roy. "What was that beach like?"

"Well, like we said before it certainly had less trees as this one." Bonnie spoke. "Except for the forest everybody almost always knew where everybody was an everything..."

"Now I'm getting more curious." Shulk replied. "I've been on this beach since day one, and I'm kinda starting to get tired of it at this point..."

"Hey, speaking of everybody seeing everybody, I thought we were all going down here..." Greninja brought up. "Where's everybody else?"

"Yeah..." Knuckles also noticed the lack of all thirteen members of Bikutā being present. "It seems that except for you two, the rest of the emperors aren't here yet. I mean, here comes Shovel Knight over there."

He pointed at the knight coming from the shelter.

"Well, I heard that Zelda said that her canteen was nearly empty and she went to go get water with I think Marth." Roy told them. "I don't know about the others, though..."

"You think you and Shulk can go get them and bring them down here?" Sheik asked. "I want all thirteen of us to get to know each other even though we were on two starting tribes."

"I don't know if that's a guarantee." Shulk warned, standing tall and leaving the water with Roy. "But we'll do our best..."

_"We all decided that we wanted to take a swim, and we all thought that every last one of us was more than down for it so we can all mesh well as a group even though not every single person was on the same beach in the beginning. However, as all of the original knights were in the water, with the exceptions of Shulk and Roy... No wait, **including** Shulk and Roy in this case situation, the emperors were all over the place. Most likely they've split themselves up and started talking in twos or threes in terms of strategy knowing that they don't have the numbers here. So pretty much, this explains the whole Emperors vs Knights thing in a nutshell." Greninja then laughed. "I guess the word 'together' is not their middle name. Understandable. But on the bright side, at least we get our own turn to strategize while we can as a group of seven of what needs to happen, and how do we handle this first post-merge vote perfectly by voting out just the right target. We're only one person up so we need to have a game plan."_

"Well, since the entire team is here now, this is the perfect time to discuss something here. Since there is so many of us we need to talk as early as possible and I think we can do so while we're relaxing in the water."

"I agree with Greninja." Bonnie replied. "So what do you guys suggest we'd do?"

"Let's talk about idols." Sheik suggested. "We all know that one of the original emperors have it, and if anyone has it, it's Marth."

Foxy nodded in response.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he has it." Shovel Knight said. "He has been exiled quite a few times, and I even think that after the swap, he may have found another clue to it given the extra time he had. He was then sent back to Nago so I believe it is highly likely that Marth has the idol. Is he our first target?"

"Absolutely." Greninja replied. "Marth would be the primary target right now, but the problem is that since Marth knows he's on the bottom with an idol for obvious reasons, there's a huge possibility that he might play it. He might not, but then he might. I don't think it's working risking put all seven of our votes onto Marth. Otherwise, one of us is idol out and the numbers will be tied."

"And that would be rather... _complicated_ to say the least..." Sheik added. "We need to plan as carefully as we could."

"So to switch the target up, we might as well go for some of the physical threats. I'd say we do Freddy first." The Pokemon recommended. "Not only we all pointed him out to be one of the strongest from the Emperors tribe, but he and Roy were on Motobu, and we all know that every time there's a new beach after a swap, there's an idol. Being a physical player with an idol is a dangerous combination."

"Me, Luigi, and Foxy were literally watching over him and Roy back on Motobu." Shovel Knight recalled. "That's how afraid we were of him getting it. I believe that if we vote Freddy out first, it would be a major help for all of us."

"Hope all works well." Luigi said. "I'm just worried of who they might target, that's all. For all we know, the emperors might target me for... pretty much only because I was pointed out the _weakest_ on day one and that to them might lead to their perception of me as an underdog threat."

"Nah, don't think like that." Sheik disagreed. "I don't think that would be enough at the moment. They're probably gonna go for either Greninja or Bonnie. Whoever they think is the most phyiscal out of all of us would probably have their name written down."

"We just need to get past this first merge vote and I would breathe a big sigh of relief." Foxy stated. "Everything that could go wrong, _could_ go wrong so we need to try our best to avoid it coming to that."

_"Right away, people are already talking Freddy, which is obviously the last emperor that needs to go since I'm tight with Freddy and I want to work with him a bit more." Foxy clearly was not on board. "But since he's public enemy number one, not only he's in danger, but I'm in danger as well. I don't want him gone. So what I need to do is to figure out a way to get the target off of him, while pleasing the Knights Alliance at the same time. If I need to put my life on the line for Fazbear, than I would..."_

-/-

As Roy stated, Zelda was out retrieving water for her canteen with Marth.

"So, why did Shadow flip?"

"I have still yet to figure it out to this day..." Marth apparently told the Hyrulian the events that occurred on the swapped Nago tribe. "But now, I am thinking about Knuckles and Krystal even more. Me and Shulk told Krystal that we needed to get rid of Knuckles since we found her to be more trustworthy as supposed to Shadow getting rid of her, but then at Tribal Council, Krystal wrote my name down in an attempt to blindside me with an idol in my possession..."

"..."

"No words?"

"...I am just confused..." She held her fist beneath her chin. "Though I have never had one interaction with Krystal, based on personality alone, I'd find her to be more trustworthy as well... What made her change her mind?"

"I... can not say..." He hung his head down a little. "Bottom line is that according to Shadow, he told me and Shulk that he desired to take us to final four... But naturally, me and Shulk can already say that it will never happen in a million years. ...However,... do you think Knuckles would be the type of person to actually believe it?"

"...Hmm..." Zelda thought out loud. "We are in a weird spot. He's clearly in the majority..."

"That I can understand." Marth nodded. "However, just this morning, Knuckles pulled me and Shulk aside and told us both that he was at the bottom of Chatan..."

That made Zelda widen her eyes. "...Really?"

"Those were his words..."

_"If the emperors want any shot of getting the majority, perhaps Shadow voting out Krystal made him think that voting one of us off is not the best thing to do for the alliance as a whole." Zelda opinionated. "However, we have an even bigger problem we are facing here. Apparently, Krystal was originally going to be here instead of Knuckles, yet something occurred last minute that made Krystal think that she had enough votes to get rid of Marth so the Knights Alliance can have more numbers. I do not know what was going through her mind, yet the bigger topic we should discuss is Knuckles's motivations."_

Just then, Roy and Shulk appeared.

"Guys, the knights are wondering where you two are."

"Oh, we just decided to have a quick conversation while we were getting water really quick." Zelda answered. "We were hoping that we had enough time, since we figured you two would distract the rest of the knights with Freddy."

"Freddy and Shadow are on their way down there." Shulk pointed behind him with his thumb. "So I say that we have like two minutes to talk. What's happening?"

"Me and Zelda were just discussing what was happening on my tribe before we all came here." Marth told them.

_"I doubt it would be a smart move for Knuckles to jump ship. Even though he says that he's on the bottom of the Knights Alliance, he would be the only one jumping ship, and then he would lose jury votes." Zelda theorized. "However, the question is... would Knuckles be the type of person that would do so anyway?"_

"Here's what I suggest we'd do..." Shulk had an idea. "We interact with Knuckles, yet not to the point to where he feels overcrowded, yet at the same time make sure we know where he stands. And we clearly need to talk with Shadow."

"I agree." Roy bobbed up and down. "I think it all comes down to Shadow and Knuckles's votes. I don't know who we're gonna vote out yet, but as long as we stick together and vote six strong, hopefully Knuckles would swing over and get one of them out."

"I believe that our winning argument would be to convince him that it later on, eventually it is not going to be Emperors vs Knights anymore, especially since he assumes that he's on the bottom of the opposing alliance..." Marth recommended.

-/-

Later on in the day close to sunset, Foxy finally found the time to have a one on one conversation with Bonnie.

"Well, we're finally reunited..."

"I know, right?" Foxy replied to Bonnie walking along the sand. "We both made sure we both survived the swap and we were both in the majority. ...So you got rid of Pac-Man?"

"I had to." Bonnie nimbly hunched with a nod. "I was starting to regret not flipping on Greninja, but look what happened? We're with the numbers and if I flipped, Krystal would have went home and we all would have been on the bottom."

"Yeah, thank you for saving all of us, hahaha!" Foxy laughed about it. "But seriously. As much as we wanted one of them out, I was scared to death of what you were gonna do, so actually seeing Pac-Man gone took a big weight off my chest."

"So what are you thinking about?"

"Trying to figure out how the heck are we gonna save Freddy."

Roberts immediately faced him. "...W-What?"

Foxy sighed. "Look, I've made a connection with him on Motobu, okay? We speak a similar language and I know that I need to work with at least one of the emperors, here..."

"..." Bonnie was near speechless.

"...You okay?"

"I-I'm fine..." He touched his head. "It's just that knowing that he's pretty much the number one target... It's kind of a lot to take in..."

"I understand." Foxy nodded.

"So, um... I mean, I've never even met him."

"You can meet him through me." Foxy suggested. "We'll all find some time to talk later. Hopefully tomorrow or something where the group is more likely to be scattered since we're all trying to harmonize today."

"Okay, okay, that's fine..." Bonnie said, rubbing his face with his hand. "It's just that this kinda came out of nowhere..."

"...Yeah, you're right." Foxy stared at the ground for a moment. "Maybe a proper build up would have been fine..."

That was when he laughed. "It's fine, really. It's already out there, now... You plan on getting the target off of him?"

"We have to. But after all that was going through your head on your tribe before you had to go to tribal, I don't want it to be all for nothing, so we're not flipping yet. However, like with the Rouge vote, we can just get the target off of Freddy and get them to target someone else." He thought out loud. "I know it might be a lot harder this time than before with thirteen people here, but we have to do the best we can. We already have Knuckles, now."

_"After all that talk I've had with Freddy on Motobu, I am not planning on giving him up so easily." Foxy shook his head with determination. "Like I was planning on doing there, I have to do so over here. I need to somehow make sure I'm good with all the members of my alliance, while at the same time building relationships with some of the emperors, and Freddy is the number one priority on my list. What's best for me is to somehow convince five other people that Freddy shouldn't be the target. Luckily with Knuckles, I have better chances..."_

"Knux, get over here..." Michaels immediately spotted the red echidna minding his own business, subsequently approaching the other two anthropomorphic animals.

"You called?"

"Okay, here's the thing..." He began to explain. "So we're voting out one of the emperors here, and Freddy seems to be the one that would receive votes... However, I personally don't want to see him gone just yet because I've grown close with him on Motobu."

"...Yeah?" Though only one word was spoken, his face had a similar reaction to Bonnie's.

"We need to convince the others to why Freddy shouldn't be the one getting the votes and that it should be someone else instead..."

"Well, _I_ was hoping that Shadow wouldn't be target when we were talking in the water." Knuckles informed. "But then when the target changed to Freddy, in my mind I was relieved that I didn't have to do anything..."

"Wait, you're close with Shadow?"

"He sacrificed Mega to save Krystal so I wouldn't go home on that other tribal I had to go to. Why do you ask?"

"...What if we can all make a secret alliance?"

Both Bonnie and Knuckles widened their eyes.

"A secret alliance?" Bonnie popped an invisible eyebrow.

"Of five?" said Knuckles.

"Yeah, like a Hidden Five Alliance." Foxy nodded to the both of them. "You keep Shadow, I'll keep Freddy, and then Bonnie can be the glue that keeps everybody together. We were all on the bottom of our original tribes, so now slowly, but surely, it'll be payback for everyone. How's that sound?"

Knuckles and Bonnie exchanged glances for a bit, but gradually, they both eyed Foxy with grins.

"...I think it'll be a good thing..." Knuckles was in.

"I'm down." Bonnie as well.

_"Apparently, Shadow formed a strategic relationship with Knuckles, which explains why Mega Man left. Apparently Shadow felt that he was on the bottom of the emperors just how Knuckles felt he was at the bottom of the knights, who me and Bonnie wanted to continue working with him anyway. So that means that if those two are tight, and us three are tight, do the math, and we have five people here that are planning on flipping the script sometime soon. And so, we need to protect each other and make it as long as we can and pick off everyone who should go one by one. Although, Freddy is the guy who's on everyone's radar right now. If that's the case, we all need to do something about it because if Freddy goes, all of our games would be messed up because that means now we would have one less person we can count on. So it looks like we have to put a little work in for the next couple days... Hopefully I can talk with Shadow in a bit..."_

"This sounds like a good plan." said Knuckles. "I'll talk to Shadow about this as soon as I can."

"We'll all talk later on." Foxy nodded as the three began to make their way back to the shelter.

* * *

**I was gonna include just one more scene at night on the merge day, but I figured that it's best to end things off here for right now. Though at the same time, this is like in one episode lol.**

**So after that whole Knuckles/Krystal thing at Nago, the castaways have finally merged where they named themselves the Bikutā tribe thanks to Marth, and by that beach scene alone, that's the difference between the emperors and the knights in a nutshell, other than how they both voted out the first members of their tribes.**

**And it seems like Freddy is public enemy number one due to the Knights Alliance being scared that Marth knowing that he's on the bottom might play his idol, so Freddy's the Plan B which is basically Plan A at this point. However, due to previous connections post-swap, Foxy decides to forge an alliance with himself, Bonnie, Freddy, Knuckles, and Shadow to make themselves the "Hidden Five." It would be very interesting to see Shadow's thoughts behind it when he gets approached, as well as the alliance finding out a way to shift the target away from Freddy (who in fact does have an idol which he found at night on Motobu, so hopefully he doesn't go home with an idol in his pocket). But while all this is happening, the Emperors Alliance seem like they're gonna trust Knuckles with their lives on flipping with them to vote one of the knights out, so I can't wait to release the next chapter...**

**But now, it's time to make my announcement on the next Survivor season! This time, the Survivor castaways will take a trip south of the border of the US, which means that Survivor is officially going to Mexico!**

**And while it's going to be a brand new location, at the same time, I'm bringing out one of the best themes in the show's history,... Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty! First castaway will be revealed after this season officially has its first member of the jury!**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you think the Hidden Five would actually be able to save Freddy, or is the target on his back just to big?**

**2\. Do you think an emperor is going home, or is it somehow going to be a knight that gets the boot?**

**3\. What do you think about next season so far now that it's been announced?**

**4\. For those of you who read Survivor - Kodai Island, how do you compare this to last season?**

**As usual, vote for your top five players for this season and I will see you all next week where you will see more character interactions, strategizing, and then the immunity challenge. I wouldn't be surprised if it turns out to be one of the longest chapters in this story. See you all on Wednesday!**


	25. Chapter 25: Day 20 & Day 21 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 25 - Day 20 & Day 21 Part 1

**KoopalingFan here once again for more Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!**

**Since I pretty much don't have much to say here at all, since stuff was said in both author's notes last chapter in terms of what's going on, I guess I can talk more about "Survivor - Mexico" since we're already here. For those of you who don't know, the brain vs brawn vs beauty theme was actually done before in the actual Survivor show, Survivor - Cagayan and Survivor - Kaoh Rong. Unlike most people though, I actually prefer the latter but that's another topic.**

**So the theme will have three tribes, six players each, tribe colors will be blue (brain), red (brawn), and yellow (beauty), eighteen players in total, which means that there will be a couple less chapters than usual since it will have two less people. (Come to think of it, this story itself will probably have two less chapters than Kodai Island, so basically after this chapter, this story will be more than halfway done lol. Now I gotta change the chapter total on my profile.)**

**I will announce the first castaway on Saturday after we have our first member of the jury for this season, so let's get going here with Day 20 for this season.**

_**Historyfan15:** _**I gotta say you are correct with some of those predictions. Though I'm not going to say how many, so that means everyone shall continue guessing lol. But what I can say is that the first castaway reveal may or may not be any of the people you mentioned, so we'll see!**

**~KF  
****  
**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 19**

* * *

It was the very first night where all thirteen castaways were together in the shelter, and Shovel Knight decided to share another one of his stories around the campfire, more specifically for the ones who never got to know beforehand, making him even more excited.

"And so, almost every time I slept by the campfire, I dreamed myself catching Shield Knight falling from the sky." He told the group. "...Well, I am not going to lie when I say that there were some close calls, but I've managed to catch her every single time."

"Always catch your teammate. ...Well, even if you didn't, at least it was a dream, anyway." replied Foxy, actually earning a couple laughs from the group.

Shovel Knight blinked at him in reaction. "...That would still be rather... _difficult_ to think about."

_"Meeting new people is quite interesting." The shovel wielder spoke. "I am always meeting new competitors to face back in my world, and now I get a similar vibe here. I have not shared interactions with Zelda, Shulk, and Shadow at the time, so I'm thinking to myself that it's best for them to get to know me while they can, and perhaps get to learn even more about some of the others that I am playing this game with a bit more."_

"Alright, then." He moved on. "Who's next?"

Everyone waited for another to speak.

"...Luigi!" He then pointed. "You still haven't told us of one of your adventures with your brother, yet! How about sharing a small story with the rest of us while we're all sitting here like this?"

"...Oh, okay!" The plumber nodded with a smirk. "So, one time me and my brother were racing across the desert, when both of us noticed this thing riding in a cloud of some sort, throwing Spinies all over the place when we were trying to visit the ruler of the kingdom."

"...How was he riding in a cloud?" Shadow unsurprisingly declined sharing one of his own stories of what went on in his life in Mobius, yet hearing Luigi's story was quite eyebrow raising for him. "Is that even possible?"

"I live in the Mushroom World." Luigi replied. "Things are quite different where I'm from to say the least. He was throwing Spinies everywhere trying to hurt us. I almost lost my Fire Flower power up. But then I hit an item block, and next thing I knew, I had the power of a Propeller Mushroom. I propelled myself up in the air, spun down like a drill onto the Lakitu. And then... he said the strangest thing..."

"What was it?" Greninja cocked his head to the side out of curiosity.

"...When I got into the Lakitu's Cloud and zoomed up towards him, me and Mario both watched him got up and asked us if we wanted to go Go-Kart racing..."

...

No words, which exactly Luigi was expecting, anyway.

"...Weird, right?"

"Now curiosity is _certainly_ getting the better of me." Marth spoke. "I really need to visit this Mushroom World of yours. I remember Peach explaining to me about what it was like back on the first day."

"...Oh yeah, I never even got to meet Peach..."

"Perhaps Propeller Mushrooms will allow the people of Hyrule an easier time traveling across the land." Zelda assumed. "They'd be pretty useful."

"Alright, so who else wants to take a turn?"

"Guess I'll go." Bonnie volunteered. "Let me tell guys what happened one time when me and the gang were performing."

As he talked as others listened in, Knuckles took advantage of the situation by motioning Shadow in an attempt to gain his attention. Luckily for him, Shadow was not lying down facing the opposite direction.

"Get up early tomorrow..."

"..." He raised an invisible eyebrow.

"We need to talk..."

"You will at the reunion." Roy told. "I need to get my hands on some of those power-ups myself. They sound quite interesting."

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 20**

* * *

The following morning, Shadow grumpily met Knuckles near the beach of the old Nago camp where the two were lucky enough to be the first two of the thirteen castaways to rise up early, largely thanks to Knuckles only getting an hour of sleep that night, purposefully staying awake for the sake of Shadow who he felt needed to rise up as early as the sun started to come up.

"...What is it that is so important?" He questioned with a groan. "You know I hate being bothered at this time. It's too early for this..."

"Sorry, but I figured what I'm about to tell you is more than important, here." Knuckles's head shake and tone of voice meant that it was only a half-hearted apology, not caring that much at all. "I had to nudge Foxy and get him up, too."

"Just get straight to the point..." An already impatient Shadow the Hedgehog folded his arms, not having the time to talk for more than a minute. "I'm going to try to get back to sleep and be the last one to wake up just because of this..."

"Look, just _listen_, okay?"

_"Ugh..." Knuckles gradually rubbed his hand down his face. "Honestly, I've noticed that working with Shadow can be quite stressful, and **this** is an example as to why..."_

"Okay, so I don't know if you or any of the emperors have found this out yet, but I figured that you need to know anyway just to help you out a little bit." He explained. "...It's Freddy..."

He cocked his head to his left. "...What do you mean?"

"He's the target..."

"Oh... Alright..." His eyes pointed at the ground.

"But it doesn't have to be that way." Knuckles shook his head rapidly. "Me, Foxy, and Bonnie have been talking yesterday, and Foxy actually wants to save Freddy because apparently he has grown close with him and wants to have an alliance just like me and you are having right now. He saved me in the Rouge vote, and Bonnie is his right hand man."

Now Shadow was fully awake. Perhaps to him the conversation with his fellow Mobian was worth more than just a single minute. "...Is that so?"

"The plan is to change the target to somebody else... not you of course." He said. "If we get the target to change to somebody else within the next two days, without being seen as total dictators about it, then it would work well for us in the long run. Foxy has even told me that Greninja is obviously close with Sheik, and they brought in Shovel Knight, who brought in Luigi. He, Bonnie, and myself are automatically at the bottom by default, since there's obviously gonna be a 5, 6, 7 in the Knights Alliance."

"...So who are you all gonna target if it's not going to be Freddy?"

"We're trying to figure that out. Somebody other than Freddy or Marth." He replied. "Bottom line is that Foxy said that what would work for all five of us is that we can all be in some Hidden Five Alliance or something. You're already in hot water with your own alliance, so this is the best option for you at this point, since for all you know, the other emperors could be talking behind your back to our alliance to vote you off just to save their own selves at any point..."

"...'Hidden Five Alliance?'"

"It's the only way you could make it further in this game, Shadow." He kept talking. "Look, I know that you haven't spoke one word to Foxy yet, but this would help all _five_ of our games here. Here comes Foxy, now. I'll leave you with him while I get a fire started."

And so he left, and Foxy promptly became his replacement as he passed Knuckles on the way.

"...Hi..." Michaels spoke first.

"...Hi..."

"What'd he tell you?"

"...He just told me that you needed me in your alliance to save Freddy. How'd you find out that I was on the bottom of the emperors?"

"Knuckles told me yesterday during a conversation." He replied. "I mean, I am not just gonna be a goat and get dragged to fifth or sixth place, since Knuckles would be the first they'd get rid of if we all _somehow_ make our way to the final seven. Same would be with you if you and the other emperors had the majority. I don't know where Freddy stands when it comes to the rest of your tribe, but since he's public enemy number one, it doesn't even matter if he was running the show over there."

"Does Freddy even know he's the target?"

"Not yet." He immediately shook. "We're gonna tell him later. Maybe you could even have a conversation with him about it. But I highly recommend you don't any of the other emperors for obvious reasons."

"I have no reason too." Shadow replied. "...Now that I'm thinking about it, I literally have no other option, since my name could be thrown out there at any given moment given my reputation with the other emperors, which was why I flipped on Mega and pulled in Knuckles the first place. I'm in."

_"Knuckles working with Foxy and Bonnie is news to me." Shadow said. "I did not know that Foxy and Bonnie were against working with the other knights, nor did I know that Foxy was the reason to why Knuckles stayed over Rouge, since apparently it was between those two at one point before the swap. Now they want me and Freddy in their alliance in order to save Freddy. So maybe with that, Foxy has proven his loyalty to Knuckles by making sure he stayed. Though the thing is that me and Freddy haven't even talked much of an alliance even though we both knew we had to get rid of Ghirahim. However, I was already planning on working with Knuckles anyway. And so, perhaps this is our ticket deep into the game. I'm all over it."_

"Glad to hear." Foxy shook Shadow's hand. "You got Knuckles, I got Freddy."

-/-

"You had a conversation with Knuckles, yet?"

Roy shook no to Marth. "I haven't talked to him at all since we merged. ...What are you thinking, Zelda?"

He, Marth, and Zelda were all in the forest in the middle of a path, the youngest of the three noticing Zelda with a fist beneath her chin, giving a huge signal to Roy that something was going through her head.

"I'm trying to think of whose name should we write down other than the one that I have in mind." She answered. "We can't write down Knuckles, since that's who we're counting on. I see no reason to why we should write down Bonnie, Luigi, or Foxy. And as far as idols go, the two and only two possibilities of who owns it are either Shovel Knight or Sheik. I don't know for certain, but it's highly likely that Greninja is the one that doesn't have it. Not only that, but he and Sheik are a pair, which I discovered on Chatan, and Greninja is clearly the most physical of those three."

"So Greninja's our plan, then?"

"Pretty much." Zelda nodded. "If we all write down Greninja and if it actually works, that would break the game wide open, since at that point we would have six emperors and six knights. But this would only work is we make Shadow stays with us because even though none of us can trust him, we need him now, more than ever, and even Shadow knows that."

Speaking of the hedgehog, he just so happened to be right near him, not being afraid of whether or not the group of three heard his footsteps, though they did. And one by one, they all turned around.

"...Strategizing, I presume?" He asked.

...

"...?"

"...We need you." Roy broke the ice. "We think that the best thing to do for all of us is to vote six strong, plus Knuckles and vote out Greninja."

_"Trusting Shadow is just like trusting a total stranger at this point." Roy stated. "The **only** reason to why it makes more sense to trust Shadow than not trust him at the moment is because he was one of us from day one, and not one of the knights. Whether he is even fond of us or not is irrelevant. He is not on the opposing team, so we have no other choice. Sure, we could just throw Shadow under the bus, but not only that is what I call the 'easy' way out, but that would also make things even worse for the rest of us. So it is important for Shadow to both stay and work with us so we can take out one of those knights, and in this case, it's Greninja."_

"Not only do we need you," the Young Lion continued. "but we need Knuckles as well. Since he knows that he is on the bottom of the Knights Alliance, we think that he is the type of person that will flip on his fellow members on a dime despite the circumstances, especially after he made his move on Krystal yesterday."

"You heard?" Shadow popped an eyebrow.

"We've told the others what happened." Marth explained. "If Knuckles flips, that would be good for all of us. We will fight to get the majority. I refuse to just sit here until my time runs out."

Shadow rolled his eyes at Marth's determination.

"Just tell us what are the chances of Knuckles actually flipping and working with us?"

"...Well, perhaps his chances would increase is I talk to him a bit more of what I had in mind." Shadow replied.

"And that is?"

All eyes were on Shadow as he thought it over for a few seconds. "...That maybe if he flips, then perhaps someone else would also flip as well. One flip equals another after both alliances would have six members each. But if one other person would flip over to our side, that means that we would all have the majority."

_"I was going to tell the other emperors that there have been people coming up to Knuckles and that they wanted to work with him because they were aware that he was on the bottom of the old Knights Tribe." Shadow revealed. "However, at that last second, I thought that it wouldn't have been the best idea, since if I told them that, that would be exposing Foxy and Bonnie. They will remember it, and worst case scenario, when one of them leaves the island, the others would throw what I said in our faces in front of everyone and then the entire Hidden Five alliance would be screwed. But I know I'm not going anywhere. However, I still have to fight for probably the only emperor I might trust long term at this point based on the relationships."_

-/-

"I just think that it would be a shame voting off one of those emperors revealing the tribal lines, that's all. They all are quite enjoyable to be around... at least _Shadow's _an interesting character I can say..."

"Yeah, I know what you're thinking." Greninja was with Shovel Knight and Luigi just by the trees near the beach where the other three knights minus Sheik just had their conversation the previous day. "I feel the same way. You can be best friends with people on the other team yet at the same time you gotta send them home. That's without a doubt the hardest part."

Just then, Foxy came by.

"'Sup?"

"Hello!" replied Shovel Knight with a wave from Luigi.

"The plan's the same?"

"Yep." nodded Greninja. "We basically gotta blindside Freddy, with him _possibly_ having an idol in his pocket, while at the same time, _pretending_ that we're sending Marth home, and so that we _flush_ his idol so that we know that when he plays it, it'll take a load off of each of us."

"Who does Freddy want out?" Shovel Knight wondered.

"He didn't say." Foxy shook in reply. "However, he did tell me that he and Shadow had a conversation of what they were gonna do."

"What'd they say?" Greninja was curious.

"Alright, long story short,..." The red fox started. "Shadow wants to flip,... and Freddy wants to flip with him."

All three of the other knights that were around stood there in shock.

"...Seriously?" Shovel Knight blinked.

"W-Wait, what?" Luigi frowned in confusion.

"They both know that they are on the bottom of that alliance, especially Shadow." Foxy explained. "Freddy thinks he's on the bottom due to lack of major connections with other people."

_"Clearly it's still Emperors vs Knights over here, and it's gonna come down to the tribal lines tonight." He said. "However, one thing is for certain, I know that Shadow wants to flip. Freddy on the other hand? I don't really know if he wants to flip at all, or he has plans on continuing to work with the other emperors, but since he's the target, it doesn't really matter. It's still going to be one of the other emperors tomorrow, so he pretty much has no other choice. I can't vote out one of my own now, because that's an obvious dumb move on my part for flipping too early. Freddy's in the minority of this new tribe, and so since we're sending an emperor home, Freddy helping us by voting off one of **his** own would be the only way out of this, especially since he's in such hot water right now. If Freddy goes home, that would be **terrible** to say the least..."_

"I'm not saying that because he's the target, because that would mean that he knows that his name is being written down."

Greninja and Shovel Knight both nodded in understanding.

"And so he thinks that if he flips with Shadow, it increases his chances of making it far." He finished. "So basically, to him and Shadow, the theme of this season is dead to them."

"It's what emperors do best, I guess." Greninja thought out loud. "I mean if they're both wanna flip over to our side, we clearly can't say that it's a bad thing. Makes our lives easier."

_"I'm shocked. Like, on a scale of on to ten, I'm at a hundred." Greninja spoke with a slight laugh. "Okay, so I expected Shadow to switch sides if not all of the emperors were on the same page. But Freddy? That just blew my mind. I didn't think he would have any reason to flip, but apparently he was thinking about his own game and what's best for him. And if he thinks he should flip, that changes a lot here."_

"I still think there's a catch, though..." The Pokemon was actually a bit hesitant about it, though, much to Foxy's heart sinking a bit. "...For all we know he could be lying about it. I don't mean to say that Freddy's a liar, but look at the numbers here. You know that people could easily just say things just to play both sides? We're at the merge here, and Freddy could actually leak information over to his side and then they can know who we're putting votes on, and then here comes a successful idol play."

"..._Dang_..." Foxy stared down. "I gotta admit... You're actually right about that. Not gonna lie..."

_"I told them my lie, and at first the three of them seemed to be completely on board with it, but then Greninja all of a sudden nearly shoots my idea down, but it's somehow... still surviving, I guess?" He tried his best to make a joke out of it. "Maybe that would make a lick of sense. But he's saying that based on the type of guy Freddy appears to be, Greninja told me that the emperors could very well be using Freddy to play double agent so that he can leak information to them on who's getting the votes, because we know one of them has an idol. I mean, freaking Greninja, man... That guy is **smart**... Wouldn't be surprised if his partner in crime thinks the same..."_

"So what if Freddy _is_ in fact telling the truth?" He questioned his tribe alliance. "And that still doesn't explain Shadow... He told me this morning that he's the reason to why Mega Man left..."

"...Woah..."

"Makes sense to me..." commented Luigi.

"...Well then,..." Greninja paused. "if that's the case then we would have to assume that they are flipping..."

"So, what exactly are we going to do about it?" asked Shovel Knight.

"...Let's put the both of them to a test of some sort..." He stated his idea. "Help me do math here. If Shadow and Freddy _flip_,... that means that we would have _nine_ people here against four (Shulk, Roy, Zelda, and Marth). We get those two to vote for one of those four, which is our target, while at the same time, that would be enough for us to split the votes 5-4 between Freddy and the other person, depending on what happens at the immunity challenge, with most of them _on _that other person, and the other four votes onto Freddy just to make sure he's not lying. Because in the small chance that he is, one of the other emperors could play his idol on our target, but then when it's those emperors' four votes against our four votes, Freddy would actually be the one out of the game on the re-vote. ...Does all that make sense?"

"...Uh..." Luigi scratched his head being even more confused now. "I'm sorry, but math was the one subject I struggled with in grade school..."

That actually made the rest of them giggle along.

"Alright, let me explain it again."

_"Alright, let me choose my words **really** carefully." Greninja took his time. "...I don't have enough fingers for this... There are seven knights and six emperors... We're trying to see if Freddy is telling the truth. So assuming he and Shadow actually join us to make nine against four, that is just enough room for us to split the vote 5-4. Five of us including Shadow and Freddy will write down whoever we want to go home (the four people who are out of the loop), while the other four put down Freddy just to test him and make sure. If there is an idol in play and if it is played on our new main target, he basically goes home after idoling himself out of the game since it would be a 4-4 tie. Otherwise, if he is really in with us, even if he doesn't have an idol, our target would go home. ...However, there is still one major problem..."_

"Hold on a minute..." Foxy held a hand out. "There's still a major flaw in this... What if the emperors vote six strong against us and take one of us out?"

"That's what I was worrying about myself." Shovel Knight admitted. "We are putting ourselves in a rather risky situation here... Being blindsided is always somebody's worst fear, even though it happens all the time in a game like this..."

"You guys have a point..." Greninja had to agree. "Well, like Foxy said, Shadow already flipped on Mega, that's enough proof right there... But then again, he could be a flip-flopper and head back with the other emperors, and then one of us is on the jury..."

"...So, all of that and we're basically right back to square one over here?" Foxy cocked his head to his right.

Greninja sighed shaking his head. "Pretty much. ...Well, at least we have two options here: us seven voting together being the easy plan, or us _nine_ splitting the votes being the much more complicated plan..."

"Well, bottom line is that all seven would have to come to some form of agreement of which plan would work for all of us..." Shovel Knight said. "I highly recommend that we all talk again about this, because _clearly_ we have a little bit more to worry about here..."

_"Ugh..." Foxy buried his head in his lap. "**Clearly** this is not going as easy as I thought it would..."_

-/-

Meanwhile, Sheik, Shulk, Knuckles, and Freddy all remained at the shelter, the three of them being involved in a conversation while Freddy simply laid back, finding nothing else to do at the time since there were no significant chores that needed to take care of. The shelter was already extended the day before.

Just then, Shadow came by, and Freddy lifted his head to see him staring right at his face.

"...Uh,... hello?"

"Have you heard anything?"

"...Next to nothing..." He talked, yet in some form of a whisper due to the fact that two knights were nearby. "Almost no one has been strategizing with me at all since we got here. I tried to pay it no mind, but it really is giving me some concern. Do you know what's going on?"

With a head turn for a few moments, Shadow faced Freddy back.

"It's you..."

Freddy Fazbear almost instantly widened his eyes. "..._What_?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"..."

"Don't ask me why." He then shook his head. "Now's not the time to get worked up here. ...Listen... There's still a chance that you will stay here. ...We need to work together. I've been involved in a pretty important conversation this morning..."

_"Hearing your name being thrown out there is without a doubt the worst feeling in the world." Freddy's back was leaning against a rock. "And apparently, I'm the number one target on the board at the moment. I don't know why exactly, but it's just the fact that my name is being thrown worries me deeply. I don't wanna go home. But apparently, maybe there's a chance that I would live to see another day out here. And whatever I have to do to stay alive, I would do so without question. Hopefully I would be able to get this giant target off of myself. Maybe I should try to win immunity..."_

* * *

**Day 21**

* * *

It was a bit cloudy the next day, yet at the same time, not a big enough sign of a storm occurring.

Nonetheless, the weather for Survivor was a different topic for another time. Out in the sand near a bunch of trees where twelve inclined balanced beams with small platforms near the end, with twelve different colored, thin empty wheels.

"Come on in, guys!"

Roy, Shulk, Greninja, Foxy, Luigi, Marth, Bonnie, Zelda, Sheik, Freddy, Shovel Knight, Shadow, and Knuckles all came through, two of the remaining castaways holding the tribal immunity idols as they all stood side by side in a line.

"Alright." Master Hand was ready. "You guys ready to get to your _first_ _**individual**_ immunity challenge?"

Big cheers and claps were heard from the crowd.

"First things first, I will take back _tribal _immunity." The master went over to take the immunity idols from Shovel Knight and Sheik, before placing them on the ground near a post that was covered in a checkered cloth. "Tribal immunity is no more, _individual_ immunity is what you seek."

With that being said, he revealed the individual immunity necklace that appeared to be a wooden japanese, black fan, or a 'sensu', basically in the form of a necklace for Survivor.

"Sweet..." Greninja nodded as a few members of the Bikutā tribe clapped in reaction.

"I need one of those..." Bonnie blinked.

"Now, for today's challenge, you will be standing on a narrow beam while spinning a ball inside a circular, wooden trap. At regular intervals, you will then take steps forward inching yourselves farther down the beam where it will become more difficult. At any point if you fall or if the ball drops, you're out of the challenge. Last person standing wins immunity, safe from the vote."

"Sounds simple enough..." Shadow mumbled.

"With immunity, you can _not_ be voted out of this game. Zero percent chance of you going home." The host of Survivor reminded them. "Losers, one of the other twelve of you will be vulnerable at Tribal Council where someone will be the eighth person voted out of Survivor, and will then become the _first_ member of our jury. Take your spots and we'll get started."

The castaways were ready more than ever.

-/-

Two rows each. Standing in the back row were Foxy, Knuckles, Luigi, Zelda, Freddy, Greninja, and Sheik. Yet not even a couple feet from them on their left were Marth, Roy, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Shulk, and Shadow. So basically it almost looked as if it was one big row of thirteen people.

"Alright, here we go." The challenge was about to begin. "Everybody start spinning your ball..."

Making a few movements from side to side, the group of castaways begin spinning the balls around in their wheels either rapidly, or at a slightly slower speed.

"Everybody is spinning, and your first individual immunity challenge is officially _on_..."

No words were spoken whatsoever for concentration reasons.

"This challenge was done once before in Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers, and we're finally bringing it back. Pretty simple. All you gotta do is keep that ball rolling. Let _nothing_ distract you."

...

"Let's make your first move."

"Already?" Luigi mumbled to no one in particular.

"You are going to put one foot on that beam..."

Thus, the castaways begin to make their transition slowly, but surely, depending on whether or not a few certain castaways decided to look down to make sure they knew what they were doing, while the rest kept their eyes on their balls, making them spin all the while.

"Now it's going to be a little more difficult..." Master Hand warned. "But it seems that everyone is doing good so far..."

...

"Let's make your next move."

Luigi sighed.

"Let's do it in little increments. You're gonna move even farther down the beam where one foot is going to be in the most narrow section..."

Unfortunately for Shovel Knight, he barely moved before his ball flew right out of his circle.

"..."

"Shovel Knight is our first casualty. Take your spot on the bench..."

"Oh well... It was fun while it lasted..."

"We're down to _twelve_..."

"...Woah!"

"And just like that, Marth Lowell fell off the balance beam... and right behind is Roy. Both of them can't hang in there anymore. Take your spots."

"We might as well take a nap." Roy commented making his way over with Marth. "This could go on for a while..."

"Last time this section was notoriously known for getting a lot of people."

Luigi included.

"Luigi had a hard time balancing and his ball slips out. Out of the challenge..."

"Whew..." The taller Mario brother wiped sweat from his head. "At least I wasn't the first one out..."

"We are down to _nine _people left in this challenge..."

There was some heavy concentration going on as the rest of the players were successfully able to fully make the transition on the beam, all of them being concentrated and confident as possible.

Yet for Shadow the Hedgehog, the ball managed to escape.

"Shadow out of the challenge..."

He cursed under his breath and dropped his wheel.

Right behind him, Knuckles struggled to keep his balance for a bit.

"..."

"...Knuckles with a nice recovery. Good save."

...

"The rest of you look very solid... Whatever your strategy is, it is working..."

Zelda, Greninja, Shulk, Sheik, and Bonnie all were moving their balls at a decent pace while Foxy, Knuckles, and Freddy all had their balls moving twice as fast.

Yet all of a sudden, Foxy began wobbling out of nowhere and he ended up losing control over his footing.

"Foxy out of the challenge..."

With no eye contact with anyone, he nimbly took his spot.

_**Elapsed Time: 10 Minutes...**_

"Freddy looking determined as ever..."

Bonnie looked determined as well, only less fortunate than the bear.

"Bonnie's ball drops. He's out... We are now down to seven and we've been here for more than ten minutes... Four knights, three emperors..."

"Ten minutes? I've barely made _one_..." Roy reminded himself with a shake of his head.

Knuckles wobbled a little bit once more.

"...Knuckles... safe _again_..."

_**Elapsed Time: 30 Minutes...**_

"Zelda, Shulk, Sheik, Knuckles, Freddy, and Greninja all fighting for immunity..."

Yet, due to being unable to keep the ball in the path that it was supposed to take, it ended up flying right out of someone's wheel.

"Freddy Fazbear is out of the challenge..."

Shovel Knight and Luigi stared.

"...Woah! ..._Dang it_..."

"Knuckles drops _and _loses his balance. Out of the challenge."

"Now here comes the hardest part..." Master Hand spoke again. "_Both _of your feet are now going to be on the most narrow part of the beam. I highly recommend you do it in little increments..."

The slowly began to inch down.

"...!"

"Shulk falls, can't make the transition. No immunity for him today..."

"Now it is just the ladies and Greninja."

"Wow..." Foxy joked about it. "The men did _horrible_..."

"...Huh? ...?"

"Greninja's ball slowed down a little too much. He's out. Now it is just Sheik and Zelda fighting for immunity."

Shadow could not have believed it, specifically how well Zelda was doing. Perhaps the balance beam was the one thing she was good at when it came to being physical.

And in spite of that, like Greninja's, her ball slipped as well.

"Zelda drops!"

"_**SHEIK WINS THE FIRST INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE!**_"

She happily hopped off with excitement as she shared an embraced with Zelda, who was still grinning more than ever.

"That was my best challenge, yet! Good job, Sheik!"

-/-

"Sheik, come on over."

The rest of Bikutā gave her a round of applause as the ninja made her way over to Master Hand and turned around, the hand hooking the immunity necklace on her neck.

"Sheik wins the first individual immunity challenge. As for the rest of you, Tribal Council where someone will be the eight person voted out of this game where they will return to tribal later as the first member of the jury. Sheik, it will not be you. Congrats."

"Thank you, master."

_"Well, I've always wondered if I can win an individual immunity." She said leaning against a tree. "So to win the first individual immunity challenge against twelve other people means a lot! Now I know I won't be going home. But for tonight, I think to increase the Knights Alliance's chances of winning challenges and to decrease the emperors' chances of playing an idol correctly, of course we're not just gonna send Zelda home just because she was top two in one challenge so far, knowing that she clearly isn't as strong in other areas. Shulk, however, is without a doubt the biggest remaining physical threat behind Freddy, and he went top four today. So if we end up believing Freddy, Shulk will be our backup plan as long as everyone sticks to it, unless we all decide to play it safe and vote seven strong and take out Freddy, who luckily **didn't **win immunity today."_

* * *

**Okay, so there you have it. Yet another upcoming complicated merge Tribal Council.**

**So if they're not going for the safer route here, hopefully Greninja explained the much more complicated option for this vote rather well, and it seems that their target has switched to Shulk if they end up believing Freddy that he's flipping (which Freddy by the way was never even asked to flip, but then Foxy said that he already has no other choice given the circumstances, planned ahead, and to increase the chances of the knights splitting vote, Foxy lied to his alliance saying that Freddy's flipping because he says he thinks he's on the bottom lol, so basically Freddy is now backed up into a corner here). But like Foxy said, if Freddy ends up leaving (even though he has an idol), it would hurt a lot of people. The entire Emperors Alliance and the Hidden Five Alliance, so pretty much everyone but Greninja, Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Luigi.**

**...Or it could just come down to tribal lines at Tribal Council, and unlike post-swap, it seems that it would be just a bit harder to keep Freddy this time, so Foxy better start praying to the Survivor Gods or something lol. Oh, and also, clearly we all know that Shadow wants to flip, but at this point Shadow is not even the top person to worry about at the moment lol. That's saying something.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Which plan would actually work in the end?**

**2\. Would anyone play their idols at Tribal Council?**

**3\. What are the chances of a knight going home actually instead of an emperor? (I only put this because other than this one I only have two questions lol)**

**Vote for your top five players on my profile and we'll all see what happens on Saturday! ...Oh, by the way, congrats to Sheik fans for your fav for winning the first individual immunity challenge!**

**I encourage all fans of the Tribal Councils of Survivor to review.**


	26. Chapter 26: Day 21 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 26 - Day 21 Part 2

**Welcome back to Emperors vs Knights where we will have our moment of truth of who is going to be the eighth person voted out of Survivor, and thus becoming the first member of the jury. And here are the following targets that have been thrown around: Freddy, Shulk, Marth, and Greninja, with it highly likely being one of the former two so far, so we'll see what comes up.**

**So after whatever happens at tribal, not only would we have our first jury member, but this also means that it would be time to start my side fic "Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa" where for those of you who don't know, the players that makes up the jury phase of the game where they get voted out get to interact each other somewhere at a Ponderosa Cafe of some sort during the events of the game until Day 39 where they have to face the final three. There are going to be ten jury members like last season, and every time someone is eliminated from this point gets a chapter all about them in my side fic.**

**But we'll talk more about that later. Let's continue to enjoy the main fic here!**

**_Historyfan15_: It actually seems to be possible knowing what's happened so far with original Nago. Wont be surprised if that occurs depending on how the vote is gonna play out **

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 21**

* * *

The Bikutā tribe all re-entered their camp one by one, most of them congratulating Sheik on her victory.

_"The guys have **flopped** today..." Shulk laughed. "I mean, balancing is without a doubt a whole girls thing, but man. There were **eleven** guys up there, and it's pretty neat that the final two in that challenge were both women, especially Zelda of all people doing well, which was nice to see, because it proves that Zelda may not be terrible at challenges as Ghirahim or Shadow might have thought. I mean, for me, I've tried my best at balancing, but I didn't pull it off. Oh well. Top four isn't that bad."_

"Sheik, you _rock_." He told her, and judging by the tone of his voice, Sheik knew without a doubt the heir to the Monado meant that.

"Aw, thanks." She smirked. "Never thought that I would win the first individual immunity challenge of all things, but I guess fate chose me to win!"

"Guess I'd better get good now." Foxy said. "I know that wasn't the first balancing challenge, and it's not going to be last. Looks like I need to really prepare myself here..."

"Well, at the same time, it doesn't mean that it's going to be the main goal of the next challenge." Sheik reminded. "Maybe if it's something different, then that means that somebody else could win."

"You know, come to think of it, not a lot of the fanbase care that much about the challenges." Greninja brought up. "I mean, I can understand why, but at the same time, it's still part of the show. I do find a little competition to be fun just to see everybody out there competing for a prize. _Somebody _has to win."

_"When I watch Survivor back at home, I enjoy every bit of it. When it comes to people having nice, general conversations with one another on deserted islands and other places as well as the strategizing, Tribal Councils, loved ones visits, and even the challenges. Every the show has to offer, I'm all in. But for some reason, some people find the challenges to be the least entertaining part of the show. I mean, I know it's not Tribal Council, but it doesn't mean that the challenges have no impact at all, because without the challenges, it's not like we can send all twenty people to the first Tribal Council at the same time. What else can we do to determine who gets to go to tribal first? Drawing rocks?"_

"I know it'd better not be a puzzle challenge, that's for sure." commented Knuckles as some members of the black tribe began to separate. Wanting to take advantage of it all, Shulk managed to motion some of his fellow former Nago members to follow him along for a walk.

_"Unfortunately, in spite of my greatest efforts in that challenge by trying to stay balanced for as long as possible," said Zelda. "we were unable to prevent one of the knights from winning immunity. Marth is the most likely emperor to have the idol at this point, so right before the challenge I was beginning to figure that if one of us won immunity, and if Knuckles isn't flipping, than it would decrease the knights options of who to vote for. However, chances are that we might not even need the idol because of Knuckles possibly flipping. Of those seven knights, he would be the most likely person to jump on our side, thanks to Shadow. So perhaps it was a good thing to keep him in over Krystal on the Nago tribe after all."_

-/-

All six of the emperors for the first time since the merge managed to come together over by the water well.

_"So back to our game plan, Greninja proved himself to be even more of a threat when it comes to challenges, which is more than enough information we need to hopefully blindside and take him out in order so we can break the game wide open for all of us. But the only way to make sure is that we are all on the same page."_

"Okay..." Shulk started the conversation. "Does anyone have any idea on who the knights are voting for?"

None of them responded verbally even though there were some head shakes.

"Okay, so none of us know anything yet, which is understandable, since for all we know, _they _don't even know who they're gunning for at this moment even though tribal will happen in a few hours." Shulk said. "However, we already decided who we're voting for. It's still Greninja, right?"

"That seems to be a logical choice in my opinion." Shadow replied. "I mean, for sure we're not going to target Luigi of all people. It would be a stupid move otherwise. He's not a threat..."

"He could eventually become a threat if he has this underdog story going for him, but that's a topic for another time." Shulk wanted everyone to stay focus on the main issue. "All I know is that it's all about you and Knuckles."

Shadow nodded. "Understood. I'll continue on talking with him more. Just don't try to change the plan again behind my back."

"Oh, we won't." Roy put his hands out in front of him. "As a matter of fact, this might as well be our last talk for the rest of the day. We vote out Greninja, and together we can change the whole game to prove to the knights that we could still work together and work together well."

Shadow turned on his heel and Freddy followed.

-/-

Hanging off one of the many tree branches in the forest, a large spider was wrapping around a fly in its own web, preparing itself to have its meal.

"So I'm still the number one target, right?"

"I highly doubt things have changed up to this point." Shadow told him, as they were now on the path to collect water for themselves. "However, I do know that it's obvious that we need to work with each other from this point forward. I've never had the chance to consider on actually building an alliance with you since I was too busy dealing with the fact that I was on the outs in the early stages of the game."

"That I can understand, even though at this point we will never know for sure..."

"I believe that indeed I was the next target, but that's a side story." Shadow had bigger thinks to worry about and Freddy knew it all too well. "We need to come to a decision of our game plan. The emperors assume that Knuckles is a swing vote for tonight, but clearly that is not the case since if anything, _we're _the ones that are more likely the swing votes even though this is not a case to which a swing vote actually exists at the moment."

_"Without a doubt my life is on the line tonight." Freddy knew what was scheduled to occur that night. "Not just for me, but Shadow wants to flip, I'm apparently supposed to be part of this Hidden Five alliance of some sort, the other emperors need me for the numbers, but all that relies on me not going home. Yet unbeknownst to literally anyone, I have an idol. But I'm not just gonna sit here and just wait to tribal just to play it, because since this is only the first post-merge Tribal Council, I have to save it if I don't need to use it. Clearly Foxy is with me, and apparently he has both Knuckles and Bonnie with him. But the bottom line is that I need to make sure I don't go home, or else..."_

"I think that the best way to make sure that we earn old Chatan's trust is to tell them who the Emperors Alliance is voting for, so that it would put them at ease a little bit." Shadow suggested. "What do you say?"

"Well, I guess as long as I'm not going home, I'm all over anything that I can help do at this point."

-/-

Since the old Chatan tribe knew that all of the emperors were away once more, they (minus Foxy) took advantage of it all by having their own conversation.

"Alright, so we've regrouped here." Shovel Knight started the conversation. "Not including Zelda, Shulk made it pretty far into that challenge. Marth and Roy aren't that much of a concern in terms of challenges as of now, and it seems like that the only time we need to worry about Zelda for challenges is when it comes to balancing and puzzles."

"Well, I think that Zelda should be our last option when it comes to who we're voting out right now." Sheik opinionated. "Literally all the other emperors are more physical than she is. And of those other emperors, excluding Freddy, Shulk is next in line. If it's not Freddy, than if we vote Shulk out tonight, it would increase our chances of winning challenges. Or else, he could go on a run. But we're obviously not completely trusting Freddy yet, which is why no matter what our plan is, his name is going to be written down anyway."

Bonnie began to chortle. "I just think that it's so funny how we're the ones that would be on the bottom as the emperors discuss what to do with _us_, but the knights are in their shoes instead."

Sheik, knowing what he meant, chuckled a bit as well. "And how does it feel?"

"...Well,... I can't say that any of us are used to it. Probably not even Cloud!"

_"So as we are trying to discuss who should be going home, we're still trying to process the fact that the Knights Alliance have the majority over the Emperors Alliance on this tribe." Bonnie admitted. "It just feels funny to me, not that I'm complaining of course. I mean, if we were all on the bottom more likely we all would have worked together to break up the emperors, but since it's the exact opposite, now that we know that there are clearly cracks within the emperors, we have to decide which 'boss' should the employees take out first, and we all need to work together to make sure that happens until we can figure out which boss we like the most."_

"I mean, I don't know about you all,..." Luigi was shaking his head. "but I'd rather not break our votes up. I think that it's more possible that the emperors could very well live up to their name, take advantage of the situation, and cast all six of their votes on the same person to make us look foolish..."

"And _that_ is our number one fear." Greninja nodded in agreement. "We really have to know where people stand. Shadow's vote is not even in the question anymore, but Freddy on the other hand..."

"Well, if you guys want, I can talk to him about it." Bonnie volunteered.

"Me too." Sheik raised her hand.

"Ugh..." Greninja suddenly said.

"What's wrong, Greninja?"

He sighed and shook his head staring at the ground. "It's nothing... It's just that I would feel kinda bad if the vote is for Shulk tonight. I only knew the guy for three days and he's apparently a super fan like I am..."

"Well, if we do end up voting for Shulk, it's just a risk that we're just gonna have to take." Knuckles said. "We all know the consequences, and it's like drawing rocks. We're willing to risk putting our necks on the line just to make sure we have the trust of one person."

"I still don't know, guys..." Luigi was still not fully on board.

"I mean, I can easily understand where Luigi is coming from." Shovel Knight was with him. "None of us except Knuckles have received a single vote this season and if one of us is going this tribal because we didn't vote together, it's rather unfair, and would look really bad because we would all know that it would be our own fault..."

_"Maybe the emperors wouldn't have been on the same page either if they had the majority." Bonnie guessed. "Probably even worse... But for us, we have our two options and not everyone is on board with the same plan right now. I mean, for my game, I know what **I** need to do, but of course I have to keep my mouth shut for obvious reasons. I mean, I think I could like Freddy, so being in an alliance with him wouldn't be so bad. But now I have to talk with him in secret while at the same time pretending that I'm on board with going with the knights all the way to the end, or at least as long as we possibly could... Man... All I gotta say is that if Freddy won immunity today, that would have changed **everything**..."_

-/-

Shadow found some time with Knuckles and Zelda by the beach after the original Chatan members separated.

"Are you sure you're with us?" Zelda questioned the echidna of the group.

"I am..." He nodded.

"Why don't you tell us who you are all voting for?" Shadow recommended.

"...Nothing is certain right now." Knuckles responded. "But even if I don't have the time to talk to either of you of the target, all I know is that I am open to put down whoever's name you all would like. Who is it for you guys?"

"Well, me and the other emperors just had a conversation in the forest." Zelda explained. "Right now we think that Greninja is the right choice to send home. He's strong, he is close with Sheik, and we doubt that anyone would play an idol for him if one of the knights decide to play one."

"Okay, I guess I'm putting down Greninja, then." Knuckles said with hands out. "Listen Zel, I know I might the only knight in your alliance if I put his name down, but after he goes home, it's six emperors and six knights. ...Do you really think everyone will stick together at that point?"

"There's a chance of that not happening." She presumed. "So hopefully if you come over to our side, maybe the game will break open."

_"I didn't know if Shadow asked me to tell Zelda who to vote for just so he can play both sides," said Knuckles. "so I just said that we basically don't know yet. I was gonna say Freddy, but I want them to believe as much false information as possible. They probably think that I'm flipping because they basically think that I'm a bonehead and that I didn't care about numbers anymore... Ugh... And it really irritates me when people think like that, because if this was real life, I'd tell them that I'm **much** smarter than I look. Even I understand that being the only knight in that alliance, I'm obviously at the bottom of that not counting Shadow and Freddy... who would still be three against four in that situation so it wouldn't even help..."_

_He sighed. "But, this is not real life. Since I am playing a game for a million dollars, I gotta do what most of the people would do here in this position, which is to say as little as possible. And sometimes for me the hardest part is keeping my mouth shut because I get annoyed, so I'll try my best to control my emotions..."_

-/-

"So, yeah..." The red fox said. "Basically they think you're a physical threat that has been on the Motobu tribe, and that you possibly have an idol. They're trying to blindside you."

He sighed in reaction not even looking at Michaels. "Just tell me what I need to do..."

"Actually, I was just getting to that." He replied. "Now, I've been having some conversations with my alliance, talking to them into keeping you here over someone else just so that you can be part of our alliance. But, listen... I don't know if Shadow or someone else told you this already, but... You're gonna have to flip on your tribe..."

"..." His eyes started to widen. "..._Really?_"

"Look, I'm not just saying that just to intimidate you or anything, it's just the only way you can make it out of this. I've tried convincing my alliance into letting you stay, but there's some smart people over there. They are not trusting you so easily after some of them only knew you for three days. They're putting you to a test to make sure you're not lying to them just to be safe, and that's something I can't even blame you for..."

"..."

_"I know Shadow's flipping and I'm not even surprised, but I had no plans on flipping on my entire tribe at all." He shook. "I didn't think I was at the bottom, nor did I think I was at the top of the totem pole. I was just doing what people were telling me to do so I wouldn't seem as that threatening, but since the other tribe is viewing me as a target, looks like I have to do whatever they say just so I can be here tomorrow, including being forced to make decisions that I might not even wanna make..."_

"..." He finally sighed. "Okay... I'll do it... Just tell me who to vote for..."

"The only way you would stay here is if you vote for Shulk, unless the target _somehow_ changes to somebody else, which is unlikely, but if I don't tell you if the target is changed, you might hear from either Bonnie or Knuckles. Anyway," He got up from the shelter and left. "I gotta go before my alliance starts to question where I am."

"Alright, thank you..."

_"Like I said before, even though I want to keep Freddy, I still want to help send an emperor home at the same time. Because if the alliances are tied, and the emperors somehow end up getting the majority, I don't think me, Bonnie, and Knuckles have that many relationships that would keep us going if the other knights decide to throw us three under the bus."_

Not too long after Foxy made his exit, Bonnie and Sheik came by.

"So... We heard that you wanted to flip..." Bonnie started.

"..." Freddy glanced off to the side. "Yeah... I think that's my best option at this point. What do I have to do to get you all to trust me?"

"Well, first of all, do you think that Marth has an idol?" Sheik asked him.

"I mean, I haven't seen any proof that he has one, but I don't see any other emperor having an idol from that tribe." Freddy shook his head.

"You know what, _I_ have an idea." Bonnie suddenly said. "How about in order for us to gain your trust, how about you tell us who _your_ alliance is supposed to be voting for."

"Greninja." He said immediately.

"...Oh." Sheik widened her eyes a little. "Okay, then. I guess that's that..."

"Guys, I really want to work with you. I'll vote for Shulk and then we'll discuss plans from there."

_"I wanted to have my own conversation with Freddy since I never had to the chance to talk to him in private yet, but then Sheik decides to come with me too, so I had to play up in front of the Sheik while at the same time, I wanted to work with Freddy for more reasons than the knights have. And so I thought to increase their chances of trusting Freddy, I had to ask him who were they planning on voting for, and he told us Greninja immediately. Hopefully that'll make them think for a minute..."_

"Okay, so if Greninja's gonna be the target, than the seven of us are gonna vote for Shulk." Sheik concluded. "If any of the emperors approach you to dicuss anything else important, if you have time, maybe you can leak over to us."

He nodded in reply.

"Hey Sheik, why don't ya find Foxy and make sure he knows about the plan." Bonnie suggested. "I wanted to stay here at the shelter for a bit, anyway."

"Sure, no prob..."

She was now out of sight, leaving both anthropomorphic animals alone.

"Hey..."

"Hi..." Freddy blinked. "Were you playing up just because she was there?"

He laughed. "Had to man. Foxy was the one who told me about this Hidden Five alliance idea. Even though the idea sorta came outta nowhere for me, I feel like for me at this point, I need to have _some_ plan that will help me get to the end. Wouldn't you say?"

"Well I definitely agree now that my name's thrown out there..."

"Yeah, sorry to hear that, man..." He rubbed the back of his head. "But, don't worry. Me, Foxy, Knuckles, and even Shadow are trying to protect you than it will be everything. What did Foxy talk to you about?"

"He basically said that the only way I can survive is if I flip on my alliance and write down Shulk..."

"Oh, okay..." Bonnie glanced off for a bit. "Well, just to tell you in advance, they _are_ trying to test you. Don't be surprised if your name still comes up at tribal..."

"..."

_"I feel like I'm being taken into consideration on whether or not I'm going to be the Chatan Alliance's new manager at whatever job they work at. They're saying that they could trust me, but they don't know if what I'm saying is exactly all the way true. I mean, a simple solution would be that I need to play my idol, just to make sure I don't go home with an idol in my pocket. But I have a million questions going through my mind? Do I just let things slide and hope that I'm not going home with an idol in my pocket? Do I play the idol right away right when Master Hand asks if anyone has one not even caring who's getting the majority of the votes? Or do I plan on deciding at tribal? But at the end of the day, no matter what happens, based on everything that I heard today, there's a hundred percent chance that my name is gonna come up at least once..."_

The tribe of Bikutā grabbed their torches and exited the camp.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 21**

* * *

Shulk, Freddy, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, Knuckles, Greninja, Zelda, Foxy, Shadow, Marth, Luigi, and Roy all made their way through the path, up the stairs, and into the Tribal Council area where Master Hand awaited for each one of them to place down their torches in the back and seat themselves so that the tribal discussion would officially commence.

"Alright, so the _merge_." Master Hand said. "We started off this season with ten emperors, ten knights. Both tribes attended Tribal Council twice and we have discussions on basically what makes you _you_ in this game. So now we have thirteen people left in the game, each person being voted at this point being part of what would become the jury over there. But numbers wise, we have seven knights, and six emperors. Roy, from you're point of view, since you're one of the six remaining emperors in the game, were you ever thinking to yourself of what could have happened if the roles were reversed as far as numbers go?"

"Absolutely." He nimbly nodded in response. "I thought about it constantly ever since we merged, and I bet that some of them even thought about that when we knew that the knights were going to have the majority."

"I'm pretty sure that every one of us has thought about that at least _once_." Greninja giggled a bit. "Everyone was preparing of what was to come if the knights were going to be on the bottom, since naturally that would be the case, but seeing the roles being reversed, it does kinda change things up a bit, even though we knew that it was not as if it would be impossible or anything."

Roy nodded in complete agreement as well as a few others.

"So Shadow, since you're an emperor that is on the bottom, what does that mean for you?"

"Well, if the knights would have fought to get the majority, than since the roles are indeed reversed for this particular situation, all old Nago has to do is to simply do the same."

"Which means that you all have been trying to find a crack?"

"Yes, we have. And as usual, nothing is official until you are reading those names. And even though I voted out one of my own at a previous tribal, which is something that will _always _be talked about,"

Marth turned to him.

"if I can think that the best thing to is to have old Nago stick together, then you know that Nago's best interest is to have everyone stick together."

"So Foxy, if all the emperors are planning on sticking together since _they _are actually the underdogs here, if the six of them vote for the same person, if you guys split your votes, you are all shooting yourselves in the foot."

"_Exactly_." He nodded with arms folded. "And we know that one of these topdogs here have an idol, so without question we have to plan correctly, or else we're screwed, and we're _definitely_ going to be the underdogs here if old Nago gets the majority. No matter what our tribe name is and no matter how many of what tribe is living on this beach with the other, not one person started this game with literally everybody else, including the ones that have already been voted out."

"Sheik, that means if everyone in the Emperors Alliance is voting for the same person, and everyone in the Knights Alliance is voting for the same person, then that basically means that everyone is thinking: 'Oh okay, if it's down to tribal lines, let's just see how it goes.' A plan so simple, but nothing is official until after the votes are read."

"That's true without a doubt." The ninja completely agreed with the hand's statement. "The emperors are looking for someone to flip, just like we would have looked for someone to flip. Like Shadow said, he voted out Mega Man, but for all we know, he could stay loyal to his alliance at the end of the day and have as many votes for one knight as possible and hopes that someone joins over to their side voting off one of _our_ own. This is why most merge Tribal Councils are the most significant, other than the very first Tribal Council of the season."

"So what you're saying is that, 'Yeah, I know how the numbers are. But if the plan is to have everyone stick together, let's just test it out at Tribal Council, just to make sure.'"

She nodded.

"I mean, we're going to tribal, anyway..." Bonnie commented with a smirk. "Votes are basically always gonna be tested it out whether things go your way or not. But if it does come down to tribal lines, then like most seasons, it would dictate the rest of the game."

"Shovel Knight, since you appear to be in the majority, what would that mean for you if someone _does_ flip over to the emperors?"

"Well, if someone flips over, I guess everyone has their own agenda on how to play the game moving forward." He answered. "But for me, I doubt it will make things better for me to jump ship, since the emperors could be writing _my_ name down because I've been to Exile Island. Sheik has been to Exile Island as well."

"And while we're on it, let's talk about idols right now." The hand changed subjects. "Three people have been to Exile Island and they all are still here. And to top it all off, no idols have been played this season thus far. Luigi, do you think that everyone that has been to exile is perhaps lucky? Because for all you know, their names could have been written down since the only person that was with that was on exile before the swap was Shovel Knight. So do you think it's because of luck, or do you think that everybody who might have one just feel comfortable enough that they don't even need to play it just to be safe?"

"Well, if everybody does feel comfortable here, then that means we have some really good players." The plumber replied. "Some people are good at reading others and if that's the case, then everyone is doing a good job."

"Marth, unlike old Chatan, you are the only one from old Nago that has been to exile. Do you think people are throwing your name out there?"

"Without _question_." He leaned forward a bit. "My name was literally written down at the last Tribal Council in an attempt to get me out with an idol on my pocket assuming that Shadow would turn once again."

Shadow eyed right at Lowell at that comment.

"But even though I have no hard feelings obviously, at the same time, it is quite concerning that things could be even worse for my game now that we're at the merge and I'm still here, because I think that I'm a _huge_ target at this stage in the game, with the only reason being that I could have the idol. Yet in my defense, it does not mean take every other person into consideration. Since people have literally said that there is a low chance that the idol was on Exile Island, suppose someone here managed to find the idol without even needing one clue that would have helped them look for it? And that does not go for just old Nago members,... but for also the one knight that is sitting here that has been on Nago as well."

"You of course are talking about Knuckles." Master Hand concluded.

"Well,..." The red Mobian himself raised his hands in the air. "I for sure don't have it. I think that eleven days without a swap is more than enough time for one of the emperors to pick up the idol..."

"But Knuckles, at the same time, you do understand where Knuckles is coming from. Not everyone can find idols," The host snapped his finger. "just like that."

"Oh, I agree. Just a matter of me defending my game..."

"Alright, so Greninja, _if_ in fact this vote does come down to tribal lines, what will the plan be afterwards?" Master Hand wondered. "Predict the future. We would have one person being on the jury, assuming that it would be an emperor from your point of view, where do you go from here? Is it still going to be Emperors vs Knights?"

"...Well, I guess that all depends on this vote right here." The Pokemon hunched his shoulders. "Nothing is official until we know what votes are there, who's name was written down, and was I involved in the plan that we discussed and have been told was happening tonight. Of course if it turns out different, then that's another story. But I believe that once I vote on who I believe is going home, and if things go according the plan, then we should discuss what to do next. Right now it may seem like I'm only thinking tribal by tribal rather than planning ahead, but the merge Tribal Council of a season is no joke, because one this tribal is done, that's the rest of the game, and _then _I can plan ahead."

"Freddy, unfortunately for you and the rest of the emperors, nobody in the Emperors Alliance won the challenge today. Final two had Sheik and Zelda, Sheik wins immunity." He held his hand out to her. "So you guys have less options, because otherwise, if you for example won immunity, then you guys would have had a better chance against the knights. But since that's not the case, scrambling and throwing each other under the bus would how you all would be living up to your name. Were you a part of any conversations about that in particular?"

"I haven't been throwing any of the other emperors under the bus one bit at all." He shook his head as he was now the center of attention. "Right now I'm just trying to live day by day here. At this point if each and every person here is sticking to their tribe, when it comes to being told what to do, Chatan most likely had some conversations on which of the six of us they are the least likely to be comfortable around I guess."

Some of the other members of the Bikutā tribe laughed at that.

"I mean if I make it to day twenty-two, that means that they're basically telling me, 'Okay, we like you, and we're okay with letting you tell us what to do. We'll let you stay for now.'"

"Well put." Shulk agreed with a snicker. "We're all applying for a job to be hired as a new manager of this tribe and they're going by the process of elimination and if no one is gonna flip, then one of us will lose their flame tonight. Then again, if there's confusion among the co-workers, then perhaps I have even more of a chance."

No one else had anything to say.

"...Alright, so I guess if there's nothing else to be added here, then that means that it is time, to, _vote_." The tribal discussion was now finished. "Zelda, you're up."

The Hyrulian calmly left her spot, made her way past everyone, and to the Tribal Council voting booth spelling out Greninja's name.

"I think not all of the co-workers are on the same page based off what I have been hearing. Even though I think that we could be friends outside of the competition, I unfortunately have to make this vote only because you are just too large of a threat."

Greninja was staring right at Zelda all the while, Roy subsequently being the next to vote, followed by, Shulk, Luigi, Greninja, and Marth, Freddy uncapping the pen to make his vote.

Knuckles was holding his vote at the urn, before promptly folding it up and placing it inside.

Following Marth Lowell was Shadow the Hedgehog as he wrote down his target, Foxy being the next one to vote as he heaved a small sigh.

Once Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Sheik cast the final three votes, with the female ninja sitting back in her spot, Master Hand was ready to tally.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Freddy curled up his lips, Shadow had a fist beneath his chin staring down at the ground, and Marth was staring around at nothing in particular.

The master came back.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

All members of the original Chatan tribe eyed at least one members of the Emperors Alliance.

Marth made little to no eye contact.

"..."

Foxy blinked as Luigi ended up shifting his eyes between all of the emperors.

Freddy was staring at the ground, yet he raised his eyes back up to the master, showing no signs of standing from his seat.

"..."

"...Okay."

Knuckles glanced all over the place in reaction to the fact that no one wanted to play a hidden immunity idol.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

The urn was uncapped as Freddy Fazbear already began to feel a pit growing in his stomach.

"First vote... Greninja."

"..."

"Greninja. Two votes Greninja."

"..."

Roy watched.

"...Freddy."

Shulk and Roy both shifted their heads to the bear that only blinked.

"...Freddy. Two votes Freddy, two votes Greninja."

Shadow tilted his head a bit.

"...Freddy."

The pit in his stomach was larger than ever before."

"Three votes Freddy, two votes Greninja."

Zelda faced her anthropomorphic friend as Foxy was eyeing no one else but Master Hand, Bonnie also having no emotion.

"...Shulk."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Greninja. Three votes Greninja, three votes Freddy, one vote Shulk."

Luigi was slowly rocking from side to side.

"Greninja."

At that point, he looked down with turning his head side to side.

"Four votes Greninja."

Shovel Knight seemed to be feeling anxious.

"...Freddy."

The pit in his stomach still existed.

"Four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, one vote Shulk."

Freddy lowered his head just a bit while still eyeing the vote reading, Knuckles being slanted over with a fist below his head.

"Shulk."

"..."

Zelda now turned to the blonde emperor as Freddy's head began to rise again.

"Shulk."

Roy slowly rotated his head around to everyone in confusion, Zelda glancing all over the place as Marth's mouth started to hang open.

"Four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, three votes Shulk."

Foxy shifted his head to Bonnie but never noticed back.

"Shulk."

Now Shulk's own jaw began to drop.

"..._What_?" Roy mouthed, Marth being just as confused as he was.

"Four votes Shulk, four votes Freddy, four votes Greninja, one vote left..."

Shadow remained in the same position for the entire time. Zelda on the other hand did have a hand over her mouth as Freddy's head was fully raised.

"..." Shulk shifted at the rest of his alliance.

"Eight person voted out of Survivor and the _first_ member of our jury..." Master Hand eyed everyone before slowly revealing the vote. "Shulk. You need to bring me your torch."

"..."

Roy gradually shifted directions all around the tribal as Marth had his jaw dropped, not even watching Shulk walking to the torches and grabbing the one who came into tribal with.

Shadow glanced at Knuckles who nodded as Foxy slowly began to grew a small smirk with tied up arms.

"Shulk, the tribe has spoken."

"They sure did..." He watched his torch officially being snuffed by the master. "_Ouch_..."

"Time for you to go."

Not even watching him walk away, Roy was already staring at Shadow, and Zelda was doing the same, until she ended up pointing her eyes at Freddy who made no eye contact.

"Well, I don't know what plan each of you ended up believing, but based on the shocked the reactions, clearly not everyone was on the same page, and maybe it wasn't coming down to just tribal lines tonight. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

The remaining twelve Survivor contestants all picked up their torches and exited the Tribal Council area one by one, being shown to be on their way heading back to Bikutā.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Greninja**

**Marth**** \- Greninja**

**Roy**** \- Greninja**

**Shadow**** \- Shulk**

**Shulk**** \- Greninja**

**Freddy**** \- Shulk**

**Luigi**** \- Freddy**

**Sheik**** \- Shulk**

**Greninja**** \- Freddy**

**Knuckles**** \- Freddy**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Shulk**

**Bonnie**** \- Shulk**

**Foxy**** \- Freddy**

_**13th Place: **_**Shulk**

* * *

_"Should I actually feel good for being blindsided after thinking of what would happen if I was to get blindsided on the show? I don't know, but for me it's a bittersweet feeling. Yeah, I've been blindsided and I guess my friends can see for themselves so that can have a laugh, but at the same time, of course, not being in the game anymore when I could have made it further it's not the best feeling in the world. But no matter what happened, I'm pleased with my adventure out here. At least I barely made it to the jury. Now I get to be the King (or Emperor) of Ponderosa, hahaha!"_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Marth, Roy, Shadow, Freddy, Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

_**Jury:**_

**Shulk**

* * *

**...Well, like Shulk said himself, at least he barely made it to the jury. Keyword: _barely_. But better than nothing I suppose.**

**But on a side note, oh goodness. The Hidden Five Alliance plan worked! Going to give credit to each of them, because I feel that all five of them played a part in this vote in some way, big or small. I even give credit to Greninja by taking this risk to split votes, but Foxy was the mastermind behind it lol. He and Knuckles even _literally _wrote down Freddy just to save his life (if that makes any sort of sense lol).**

**And now that Shulk is gone, most of the emperors were of course in shock, not even knowing that the vote was going to be split, before Zelda was quick to find out that two of the emperors flipped, causing the split vote to happen in the first place.**

**Yeah, all this leads to a great start to your Saturday lol. Now Marth, Zelda, and Roy are all left out in the dark (poor Zelda. She's been on the bottom for pretty much the entire game at this point.)**

**...But now, it's time for me to announce the first castaway that is going to be part of "Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)!" Meet Ryu from Street Fighter. He's going to be on the brawn tribe (obviously). I feel like Ryu is the absolute perfect person to have on this season. He fits the theme so perfectly it would have been a huge wasted opportunity to not have him included. More castaways will be announced soon!**

**And one more thing. Since we have our first member of the jury, that means tommorow, the first chapter of "Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa" will come out and Shulk is going to have the whole place all to himself (not counting the staff of course).**

**Questions:**

**1\. What did you think of the voting result yourself?**

**2\. How do you think the three emperors that were left out of the loop react to being on the bottom? How will they respond to Shadow and Freddy?**

**3\. What do you think of Ryu being part of the next season?**

**4\. How would Shulk comprehend being voted out of the game, while at the same time now being the first person to join Ponderosa? (And just so you know, the other seven characters that were voted out before Shulk were at Ponderosa, too. But since the jury started they had to go somewhere else. (They're taking a trip in Japan lol. So now they have no idea what's going on at all until the season airs on television (if this was real life lol), unless someone just talks to them about it.)**

**I will see you all on Wednesday. Watch my YouTube intro if you haven't already and vote on your top five players this season!**

**I encourage everyone to review!**


	27. Chapter 27: Day 22 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 27 - Day 22 Part 1

**(Merry Christmas!)**

**Welcome back to the story, everyone! Straight back from Shulk's ponderosa chapter for my sidefic for this.**

**So after he was blindsided a few days ago, since Shadow and Freddy have joined the Knights Alliance (though at the same time being part of the Hidden Five Alliance), it is 9-3, very unfortunate for Marth, Zelda, and Roy, since they are literally the only emperors left in the Emperors Alliance lol. Just wow. That's just awful.**

**Well, let's see what everyone's gonna say as they return to camp...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Well no matter what happens, Shadow and Zelda are most likely at least not on the same page as of now. This is the second time he backstabbed the emperors and third time he made a big move in this game. He could be _extremely _dangerous lol.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 21**

* * *

Zelda, Freddy, Marth, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Greninja, Bonnie, Knuckles, Roy, Shadow, Sheik, and Luigi all returned to their camp, one by one leaning their torches against the tree.

Though there were some relieved castaways, no one was more relieved than Freddy Fazbear.

_"Oh my god... I'm still here!" He chuckled a little, breathing out a much needed sigh. "Throughout the entire day I was worried that I was going home with an idol in my pocket. I thought I was gonna be the target, but then people basically stuck their neck out for me just like I stick my neck out there for the employees that I'm working with back at home. I didn't even have to play my idol, let alone tell anyone about it. I've done what people told me to do, and it paid off. Hopefully I earned the trust of those knights, so I wanted to take a moment to thank all of them for trusting me, but more specifically the ones that risks their games to save mine, because Foxy, Bonnie, and Knuckles all could have flipped and risk losing the respect of their alliance, so to do what they did just to protect me means a lot, and I would do everything within my power to protect them as well if any of them are in trouble in the future."_

"I just want to say,..." He was conversing with Shovel Knight and Sheik at the moment. "even though my name still came up four times, another person still got the majority of the votes. And as long as I'm still here, that's all that matters, so thank you for trusting me."

Sheik giggled. "You're fine, Freddy."

"Don't worry about it." Shovel Knight added shaking his head. "You've proven that you were meant to be trusted, and we just wanted to make sure."

-/-

Now he was speaking with Foxy and Bonnie.

"Seriously... I..." He placed his hand on his head. "I am just at a loss for words right now... You guys didn't have to do that. You could have just helped vote me out and just be done with it but you both went the extra mile to save me, while still pleasing your alliance..."

"Dude, we couldn't just let you leave so easily." Foxy said. "You are a part of our hidden alliance of five, and just letting you go would have been terrible for our part. Oh, and by the way, me and Knuckles had to put your name down just so our alliance wouldn't thing that we were getting too close with you."

"Hahaha, well that's fine. You guys did what you have to do." He found no issue with that. "I'm not mad."

_"Seems like everything went according to plan." said Bonnie. "Not just for my tribe alliance, but for my new hidden alliance as well. We voted out an emperor, while at the same time, having me gain two more emperors just to increase my chances of having longevity in the game and getting to the end. Basically a win-win for me. Now it decreases our chances of having a knight being blindsided, while at the same time giving me more options out there. I definitely need to start talking with Freddy and Shadow more for now on."_

"There's only _one_ problem, though..." The bunny raised a finger to Freddy. "...You might have some major damage control for your tribe alliance..."

"..." He hung his head down with a vocal sigh. "I know..."

-/-

Roy was already having a conversation with Shadow with Zelda nearby.

"Okay, I want to know how did _two_ of us ended up getting nine votes..."

"Simple." He crossed his arms with a shrug. "Me and Freddy both wanted to vote for Shulk, and so us two plus the Knights Alliance had enough room to split votes..."

Judging by that statement, Roy knew very well that Shadow had absolutely no regrets at all. "...I just... I... I don't know what to say..."

_"Me, Roy, and Zelda were all completely blindsided at Tribal Council." Marth Lowell leaned against a tree trying to gather his thoughts together, and it ever so obvious based on the distressed expression on his face, even going as far as slowly placing a hand on it. "Not having a knight being sent out is one thing, but to being tricked by not only having two of the emperors being targeted, but to two of us jumping ship to the others is another. I mean,... I am sort of feeling like a fool at the moment... Maybe I should have played my idol, but that would have resulted in an emperor being sent to the jury, anyway... I do not even know how to feel..."_

"...Can you explain to us why?" Roy just wanted to get to the bottom of Shadow and Freddy's motivations.

"Long story short, I just done what I thought to be in my best interest." Shadow started to defend. "I had my own game plan, we're at the merge, and at this point without a doubt it is individual game. The knights aren't breaking, so I'd rather join them than to go home on a sinking ship."

"..." Roy blinked. "...Well, you were the one who voted out Mega in the first place! Shadow, look, I can respect the fact that maybe you might have had a different agenda than the rest of us, but first you're telling us we should all stick together, now you're saying that this alliance is a sinking ship?"

"Look, I can not help it if you feel that I should have done something differently. The game is happening literally every second we are on this island. It is an individual game, and that is all I have to say. As long as I know what I'm doing, then that's all that matters."

Zelda sighed and walked away. "I'll talk to Freddy..."

_"Once again, I end up being on the wrong side of the numbers here." The Hyrulian stated. "It seems like every time I attempt to get something going, things turn out the exact opposite. First I had to sacrifice Peach, then I had to sacrifice Pac-Man, now Shulk is no longer here and I didn't even help vote him out. So what I tried to do is to at least have some sort of understanding where Shadow and Freddy are coming from, especially Freddy since I figured I had a good relationship going with Freddy. So I felt that I needed to of course have that conversation with him..."_

She managed to find Freddy in the same area on the beach where Bonnie and Foxy were interacting with him.

"...Can you hear me out?"

"...Absolutely." Zelda nodded to him. "...You know,... now that I think about it,... it seems that your name was being tossed around, anyway. I did not know it was really going to you tonight. ...But,... just tell me why did you decide to vote for Shulk, when we could have worked together and possibly blindside Greninja tonight?"

"Okay, I can explain... I don't know if you are gonna agree with me, but I'll try my best to make sure you understand at least a little bit." He started. "In my opinion, I just felt that I would be a very big target here coming into the merge by me possibly being perceived as a physical threat. ...And by the looks of things it turns out that I was actually right based on the votes. Because of that, I told them that I would have been willing to work with them by shifting the target to another physical threat such as Shulk in hopes by me being able to work with them, I would stay in the game longer. ...Does any of that makes sense?"

"...Well..." She put some honest thought into it. "...I guess it makes sense from your point of view. But what I can say is that I do think that is valid reasoning. Even though I could have handled things a different way, you have your gameplay and I have mine. I'm not mad."

"...Thank you." He nodded.

"However, it does mean that me, Marth, and Roy are left in the dark as of now..."

"...Don't worry about that." Freddy then shook his head. "Even though we aren't in the same alliance anymore, if I could keep you here, I would. I don't know if I can say the same for those other two, but your relationship with me has not changed. I'll do my best to keep you here, Zelda."

_"I don't know how Shadow defended himself since he had to flip as well, but I figured since I was having my name written down, I would have an easier time explaining to my alliance of the reasons why I did what I did so I wouldn't have came off as a villain, but more so that they understood where I was coming from, and if the heat can be transferred over to Shadow, that would be good for me since it could increase my chances of having better relationships with those three when it comes to managing the jury, particularly Zelda. Though I still see myself growing an even stronger connection with Zelda. I don't see her going anywhere for this next vote unless she is perceived as a big threat all of a sudden. But she's not going to be a big physical threat even though she came in second place today, and she doesn't have an idol. Hopefully if I have say in the next vote in the Knights Alliance, that we could keep Zelda here for a bit longer."_

* * *

**Day 22**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

As it was pouring down rain, the remaining twelve contestants still in the running for the title of Sole Survivor all made their best to walk along the sand near the water where they all stood on their black mat facing Master Hand.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?" He asked, much to the anticipating Bikutā tribe. "For today's challenge, the twelve of you will be divided into two teams as both teams will use stepping poles to transfer tribe members from one large platform to another. All members of each teams must swim to a final, _very_ small tower. First team to get all of their teammates to the top of the tower will both feet on or above the top deck wins reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

The anticipation was shown once again.

"The winning team of six will be carried by a boat to be traveling via yacht as you get to take your first shower after twenty-two hard fought, tough days on Survivor."

A major celebration was sounded from the twelve castaways.

"And one you get out, you will feast on hotdogs, burgers, and fries like you never have before."

The crowd was so excited Luigi literally jumped up in the air.

"It's time to get some meat back on my bones." Foxy mumbled.

"We'll draw for teams and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, we have our two teams. For red, it is going to be Greninja, Sheik, Zelda, Marth, Foxy, and Shovel Knight. For yellow, it is going to be Luigi, Freddy, Shadow, Bonnie, Knuckles, and Roy. Playing for reward, Survivors ready?"

Both teams were on a large platform on the water, standing on two separate mats.

"..._**GO!**_"

And the challenge was on, both teams leaped in the water, shifting sides just to get their color coded stepping poles.

"Gonna be a big mix up here as everybody has to switch sides to untie those stepping poles..."

Upon getting there, they all immediately began working on the knots, with the exceptions of Shovel Knight, Zelda, Knuckles, and Shadow, who were using a ladder to get aboard their respective platforms, representing the team members that were going to be the ones to be carried on the poles across the water.

"Shovel Knight and Shadow are going to be the ones that are going to be carried across the water first for their teams!" Master Hand called.

"Guys, guys," Greninja was whispering to his team members. "let's just use one pole. The master never said we had to use both of them."

"You sure?" Zelda questioned.

"It's happened before. Trust me."

"...And it looks like we have two different strategies here." Hand observed. "Red team only using one pole, yellow team using both of them."

"Ugh..." Bonnie already had a bad feeling about it. "This isn't gonna work..."

"Guys, just drop one of the poles." Knuckles suggested as Luigi and Freddy let go of one of their poles, causing a huge splash to occur in the water.

"Yellow team already changing strategies as the red team is having the early lead carrying Shovel Knight!"

"Just hold on tight, Shovel..."

"Like I have a choice..." The smallest member of the red team told Sheik.

"Don't rush..." recommended Greninja as they were all doing their best slowly moving the pole along, while at the same time making sure Shovel Knight was secure.

For the yellow team, being the strongest of them all, Freddy and Bonnie were the main ones lifting the pole, while it was Luigi and Roy that were helping to move the pole along the water, Shadow maintaining his balance keeping his grip on the pole knowing the small area he had.

"Both teams doing a great job!"

"Shovel Knight is it safe for you to cross!?" Greninja shouted from below.

"I'll give it a try!" And with a leap, Shovel Knight was quickly able to make it on the platform with no trouble at all. "I'm there!"

"Red team has their first member on board and now they're going back for Zelda! ...Shadow's going to cross for the yellow team!"

Although he struggle with his balance for a bit, he was nimbly able to make it over.

"Both teams are now going to work on their second person!"

"Knuckles, you got it?" asked Luigi as they all held onto the pole steady.

"Okay, I'm on, I'm on! Just go!"

_**BOOM!**_

"I'm okay, everyone..." Zelda told her team as she kept her grip as tight as she could have, not even thinking about looking down at the water. Knuckles, however, was staring directly at Zelda as she was just a bit ahead of her opposing team.

"A little faster, guys..."

"We could, but we don't want you to fall off..." Roy thought it was too big of a risk. "We'll catch up, don't worry."

Shadow kept his arms folded as Knuckles was quickly approaching him as he was being carried.

"Zelda hops off, you're good red! Here comes Knuckles..."

It was bit of a risky gap for him to leap over in comparison to Shadow's, he still managed to leap on board successfully.

"You're good, yellow!"

Now literally everyone had to swim out to the small tower just up ahead of the platform, Greninja leading the pack easily.

"Greninja has once again proven that's he great in the water!"

Once both teams were there, they both decided to send their biggest team members up first before the rest of them went, which meant that Foxy of all people was sent up first, Freddy climbing for the other team. Yet soon, this was followed by Greninja, Bonnie, and pretty soon everyone else.

"You need to get both feet either on or above the top deck. All of you gotta find a way to fit in..." Master Hand reminded.

"Gonna have to squeeze a little bit..." Sheik said as one by one, her team stepping onto the top deck holding onto each other. "Try your best not to fall."

"This is one way of having a group hug..." Luigi commented as he was pulled up by Freddy, the rest of his team hurrying their way to the top.

"Master!?" Marth called as the host of the show looked over to see the red team all bunched up on the top deck, everyone but Foxy lifting one foot over the deck.

"_**RED TEAM WINS REWARD!**_"

Immediately upon hearing that, one by one, Shovel Knight, Sheik, Zelda, Marth, Greninja, and Foxy all leaped off happily, the yellow team, in spite of losing, leap off the tower as well into the water.

-/-

Now they were all back on their original platform.

"Zelda, Greninja, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Marth, and Sheik, you guys can head on out." Master Hand dismissed them as their ride was already waiting for their arrival, saying their goodbyes to the rest of the Bikutā tribe for the time being.

Shadow shook his head in disappointment as Knuckles was not even looking at the winning team.

"Knuckles, Freddy, Shadow, Roy, Bonnie, Luigi, got nothing for you." Now their was salt rubbing on their wounds. "Head back to camp... and try to keep yourselves dry if you can..."

_"Three seconds. **Three** more seconds we needed if we didn't pick up both poles at the beginning." Roy held the necessary amount of fingers up as rain poured down on him. "That's all we needed to win the challenge. We tried to have Shadow leap early and it still didn't work. The other team probably played it smart because of it being a previous challenge that was done before. I mean, now I **really** wished Shulk would have stayed here. He would have known what to do. But he's probably having the time of his life at Ponderosa staying dry where here I am like this, and knowing the fact that I'm on the bottom against nine other people that are gonna vote me out... Not the best feeling in the world I should say... Things can't get any worse for me right now..."_

* * *

**Okay, this has to be one of the shortest chapters in the story so far. And sure, not much has happened today other than the vote off reactions, but much more will happen next chapter, and Saturday of course is just around the corner. And for the reward, this reward at the final twelve is pretty much the same thing to the final twelve reward in Kodai Island lol. But I was gonna choose some alternatives, but I figured that it's a bit too early. Don't worry. Things will be different next time lol.**

**Oh, one small announcement about Survivor - Mexico, the Brawn Tribe name is going to be Toro.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Who is in the worst position of the ****Bikutā tribe right now?**

**2\. In what way could Marth, Zelda, and Roy survive at the next Tribal Council (all three of them)? (Nine against three is such bad luck...)**

**Vote for your top five players this season if you haven't already and I will see you all on Saturday! I encourage everyone to review and check out Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa if you haven't already!**


	28. Chapter 28: Day 22 Pt 2 & Day 23 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 28 - Day 22 Part 2, Day 23, & Day 24 Part 1

**Alright, so this chapter we have quite a few events take place. We have the two different teams from the challenge both either being part of the reward, or once again at the island where it is pouring down rain. Not the most pleasant experience in the world.**

**We also have the follow up of the characters reactions to the previous Tribal Council and future plans from there. And from that point on, we will get to the immunity challenge.**

**Also, I've decided that this chapter (in the ending author's note) is where I'm gonna have the announcement of the second confirmed castaway for Survivor - Mexico.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Well, when the tribe is divide post-merge into teams, it is only for the reward challenges, so everybody is going to be right back together before the next immunity challenge. Still, Roy is already a huge target now anyway lol. We'll see if he, Marth, and Zelda can come up with... _something_ lol.**

**Enjoy!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Day 22**

* * *

"Hey Foxy, don't forget to save us some!"

"I will." Michaels responded to Sheik, already feasting with Greninja, with Marth drying up in the shower. "But don't get too worried. Even though I'm obsessed with food right now, there's clearly enough for everybody."

Greninja giggled. "They literally chose you to go first because you have fur."

"Ugh..." He hunched his shoulders. "I don't blame them. When you have fur it is a total chore. You just don't know what it's like. Be glad for the skin that you have..."

"If you say so." The Pokemon laughed again between bites. "But, this is just amazing. We're all on a yacht in Japan!"

_"I was actually worried to death if I was going to win any of the post-merge reward challenges, since I've watched previous seasons where people didn't go on one reward. ...I'm looking at you **Worlds Apart**, hahaha!" Greninja called out. "So since I'm getting off the island after twenty-two days, even if it is just a yacht right now, people say that this is no vacation, and I can agree with that. But earning something like this is something that can be considered at least partly a vacation to me."_

"So, Greninja," Foxy crossed his left leg over his right knee. "Do you wanna have a one on one strategy talk now, or just wait and bet that more of the Knights Alliance gets here?"

"Nah." He shook his head after thinking for a moment. "It's not worth the risk for Marth and Zelda coming out here, and I think Marth is almost done."

"Ah, I see..."

_"But strategy wise, right now we're all doing pretty good. We got our target out last night, we gained two new allies, and we have a nine person majority over three old Nago members... that's a lot." The Pokemon stated. "And the more people that are in the majority, believe it or not, that's actually pretty scary. So if it's going to come down to the three that are on the outs, we have to plan this pretty carefully of how we are going to get the right target out without everything that could possibly go wrong... Not to jinx it all or anything..."_

"Okay, so the only thing that we weren't able to accomplish was Marth wasting his idol." He started to talk more quietly as Foxy was eating his burger. "If he was have used it, things would be heck of a lot easier. But since he most likely still has it, we can just do a 9-3 on anyone without making anyone mad. Which means..."

"Gotta split votes?"

"Exactly. ...And in case you didn't notice, Marth and Roy have been having heck of a lot of conversations with one another and are bonding quite well..."

"I have." Foxy nodded. "And Freddy told me this morning that Zelda isn't that much of a physical threat, too."

"I'm not ready to give up Zelda, either." The frog-like creature shook holding a couple french fries. "I'd say five for Marth and four for Roy, and just whoever those three vote for. ...Probably me just like last time..."

"Don't worry." Foxy wanted to him to know that he was not going anywhere. "I think if they keep voting for you, it's best to get used to it."

_"Win-win. Not only I kept my place in the Knights Alliance, but I've also have my Pirate Crew here... I would rename my alliance that, but then they would all think that I'm running the show... Well the audience can know that I'm calling it the Pirate Crew over here. But anyway," He spoke between laughs. "I kept my position in my tribe alliance and I've made sure everyone from my Pirate Crew made it back to camp safe and sound... But in all honesty, I would take Bonnie and Knuckles and us three can finally do something, but Marth for some reason probably thought that Greninja was going home because of him thinking that Knuckles was gonna flip, and chose not to use his idol. So Plan B is to either get rid of him or Roy, force the idol out of 'em to decrease our chances of being idol'd out of the season."_

"I don't think it matters if Marth finds out or not, since the idol would be out of here, anyway, but I think it's okay for us to let Zelda know that she's going nowhere." Greninja thought out loud, Marth walking up to them to join about half a minute later. "Hopefully the rest of us would be here soon and hope that it doesn't rain for the rest of the day."

Lowell took a glance at the sky. "It is not as dark anymore. Maybe it is simply going to be rather cloudy for the rest of the day. Otherwise, we would have to bring all the food inside..."

"Guys there is so much food here." Foxy chuckled as he continued to eat away. "Do you two know how long that's gonna take? Oh... and one of you give me a napkin."

"You don't have some in your area?" Greninja gave Foxy one of his.

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 22**

* * *

Whenever it was someone against the entire world, one typically felt nothing except the concept of being alone, with literally no allies to work with to progress his or herself further in life.

And unfortunately for Roy, even though he had not one, but two fellow members from original Nago, neither of them were on the same page as him whatsoever for obvious reasons, which of course never helped his game one bit.

He ended up finding time alone as he sat on the beach, seemingly eyeing the waves, yet the reality was that he was thinking of nothing other than being pitted against literally everyone that was in the same location breathing the same air as he was.

_"Suppose you are in an army, and you somehow managed to fail every single one of your allies in the field of battle, when no one else left, where of course you can not be mad at no one except yours truly, then... that's just it. I've talked with the people who I thought I could work with in the future and do whatever it is that they want to do, I'll follow them for it in order to build relationships... but of course things are different from me. I'm not being a sore loser at the fact that I'm on the bottom with a now thirty-three percent chance of going home, but I just feel so... **defeated**... like there is so much more that I could have done. Even if I am not the one getting the boot, one hundred likely an emperor will perish and will perish as nothing but a warrior... Maybe I could have played a stronger game, maybe I should have stepped up and got rid of certain people just to prevent the future, but I didn't... And now there is at least a guarantee that my name is going to be written down, and I suppose that I deserve it because I am on the wrong side of the numbers now, and there isn't really much you can do..."_

Now at that point he was not even pretending to eye the waves anymore, since he was now staring down on himself as he was lost in his own thoughts.

_"People do not compete on Survivor everyday. For me it is a once in a lifetime experience, and that is why people do whatever it takes to win, myself included... But I didn't even make it halfway through the game, so I am slightly disappointed in myself. Sure I could have been the first booted, but being the Sole Survivor is a dream that could have came true if things worked out in my favor perfectly. Though the problem is that I am not the only individual that is playing this game... And perhaps there are people that are even more deserving than I am because I know there are ones out there that are playing a more all-out game than I am... sorry..." He wiped a couple tears from his eyes. "Maybe if I am going home at the next Tribal Council, I should at least get to know the people around me a little more if I want to become friends with them outside of the game at least so that if it is me, then I have to prepare for it as I will try my best to take in every remaining moment that I have on the island before my Survivor experience will officially reach its end..."_

He chose to speak with Freddy first.

"Hello..."

"Hi, Roy..." Freddy was found making his way back to the shelter from the other side of the beach in which Roy spotted him from a distance. The bear formed some sort of a guilty smirk. "...Are you mad at me?"

"I have no reason to be mad at you, Freddy..." The red-haired emperor slowly shook his head. "If you honestly felt that it was in your best interest to do what you needed to do to win, then I have no hard feelings. After all, you were one of the two emperors that had your name written down."

"Oh, okay." He nodded. "Just wanted to be sure, because I feel like that if you were mad at me for what I did, then I should at least know about it. If I end up in the finals, I don't want to face the jury with many unanswered questions,... even though at that point you literally have to explain everything..."

Roy actually laughed at that. "I see what you mean."

"I really feel guilty of the fact that back on Motobu you told me that you didn't wanna screw my game over, and now I feel like I screwed yours..."

"That was only because of the challenge, Freddy." The eighteen year old chuckled a bit more. "That's an entirely different topic. And besides, if I have to be sacrificed just so that the rest of you can move forward, then I suppose that is how it has to be..."

Fazbear blinked. "...What do you feel about Shadow?"

"It will um... take some _time_,... but I'll get over it. It's a game."

-/-

He was now speaking with Luigi getting water.

"I mean honestly, it's astonishing to see someone like you still here." He told him. "Shovel Knight told me what happened on old Chatan for your first few days. You were quite the underdog out here..."

The plumber grinned at that. "Really? Thanks."

"You were." Roy nodded. "You really proved to us all on why you were a knight out here, and in all honesty, being a young swordsman out here, I could be considered to be a knight as well. I rarely get to experience on what it is like to lose sometimes, so that challenge really opened my eyes about the realities that some people may face. And because of you that are willing to take part in this competition knowing the circumstances you have to face, this experience is going to make me a stronger person, just like this is going to make you a stronger person. Mario would be very proud."

Luigi was rather touched. "...Aww, thanks... That really means a lot to me..."

Roy kept his smile. "I think there are more ways we can relate to one another than we might think."

-/-

Now he was left alone with Knuckles in the shelter.

"Well, you are nineteen, now." He spoke to him. "You were rather young when you were forced to protect the Master Emerald all alone, right?"

"..." At least Roy was not aware of Knuckles's real age when he had to start protecting the emerald all alone on Angel Island. "Yeah... I was..."

"How often do you think about it?"

The echidna sighed. "Well,... over time I had to get used to it, and so I did... But out here like this, whenever we have downtime around here, I can't help but think of not only that emerald, but the position I'm in back on Mobius as if I'm carrying the entire island on my shoulders."

"...Sounds rather difficult to process if I do say so myself..." Roy was rather sad for him for whatever Knuckles had to go through. "...Though I clearly can not relate, I know what it's like to deal with such a task like that at such a young age... You have more weight on your shoulders than ever before..."

"Exactly." The anthropomorphic animal nodded up and down. "You think about what you're doing almost every day. Sonic is one year younger than I am, and he's having adventures all the time... I mean sure I join him at times when I can, but I think of that a lot. He's having the time of his life, and I'm on Angel Island knowing what's at stake if something happens to that emerald... Part of me still regrets being out here, but thanks to a few of my friends from back at home, it's in trusted hands..."

"I see what you mean. This is why it's important to have good friends by your side." Roy completely agreed and stared ahead at the fire that was burning. "I made a lot of good friends when I was in battle myself... And the thing is, knowing that we are both young here, I don't think the world realizes how much pressure we have to face, because not everyone our age has the same experiences we had. So hopefully, this spreads awareness to some degree..."

Knuckles was actually looking at Roy in thought. "...You know,... you're a good kid. ...I know that's not saying much since we're separated by a year. ...But... I guess I can thank you for understanding where I'm coming from."

_"Roy knows a lot for his age. __You know, when I came into this game I didn't know if I was going to have that much to relate to when it comes to these people, but I know I can definitely relate to him without a doubt...__ And clearly with us being in the same age group, yet with all these expectations we have to follow, Roy knows the feeling of such enormous pressure and challenge we have to face as we are both responsible for performing such big tasks such as the ones we have to perform in. I have to guard the Master Emerald for the rest of my life, and he had to stand up and put his life on the line for not only his father, but for an entire army just to prevent a war... He's gonna be my boy for now on, hahaha!" Knuckles laughed. "Maybe I can introduce him to Sonic myself..."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 23**

* * *

The following day, Greninja, Sheik, Shovel Knight, Marth, Zelda, and Foxy all returned to the island at mid morning, where camp activity was already taking place on the tribe.

"We returned!" Shovel Knight announced, getting the attention of everyone else.

"Oh, there you all are..." Knuckles blinked, getting away from the fire to walk up to the group folding his arms. "...How was it?"

"Well, we slept overnight on the yacht of course." Foxy grinned. "Having time away from the island isn't something to be mad at, even though Kodai Island looks nice. But I mean, you need to take a break from it, you know?"

"...How about the burgers?"

"Didn't even know those existed." Marth admitted, placing a hand on his stomach. "But, um... Now that I do,... I sort of... got carried away..."

Sheik decided to spill the beans. "He threw up."

That made everyone sat there with surprised, yet a few humorous reactions, making Greninja facepalm.

"He... he just couldn't help himself!"

Roy was trying his absolute hardest not to laugh, but Bonnie could not have helped it.

"Don't worry, Marth. You wouldn't believe how many people have thrown up in the restaurants I go to. Try to eat a little slower for now on. We already have a shortage of food around here."

"I'll do my best..." Marth replied as he went over with his belongings and sat down. "Is the camp doing okay?"

"Well, since there is not much to do today, I guess we can finally start splitting the bamboo..." Roy suggested. "We have all day, anyway and we certainly have more hands here..."

_"Like Marth, burgers are basically something new where I come from, Zelda too of course since we both originate from Hyrule." Sheik said. "But the reward was nice. I've been on a yacht for the first time and I paid close attention to my surroundings. We really got to see what island we were competing on from a distance."_

"Just place the machete on the top of the bamboo and we'll just hammer it down on both sides..."

"Okay..." Luigi nodded to Knuckles as they began to hammer away, slowly splitting the piece of bamboo open, Shadow doing the same with Greninja.

_"And you know at some rewards there is always that one thing that makes it all better, especially for me personally. When I began to eat, I guess I was able to catch the lucky napkin that..." Sheik suddenly pulled out a note. "has a secret advantage, and this advantage will allow me to **steal** someone's vote, and that I can vote not once, **twice**. Wow, right? ...And knowing that I've just got an advantage from old Chatan that allowed me to **block** someone's vote whenever they decide to use it at a future Tribal Council, I guess it's extra security for my game to be protected, since I have no plans on being voted out anytime soon. I'm fortunate enough to be in the majority, and for me, I have to make sure that it stays that way."_

* * *

**Day 24**

* * *

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Sheik, I will take back the necklace."

At the next immunity challenge, Master Hand met Sheik halfway and unhooked the individual immunity necklace from her neck, placing it back on the post where it belonged for the time being.

"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, the twelve of you will be in an uncomfortable, squatting position as you balance two bars on your shoulders that has a urn full of water right in front of you on a small table that connects the two bars together. At any point in the challenge, if you squat too low, a flag on your left will pop up, or if you go too high, the urn will fall, putting a fire out from below right in front of you with the water. Last person remaining, wins immunity and is safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the ninth person voted out of Survivor and will become the second member of our jury. Makes sense?"

He earned a few nods and claps from the competitors.

"We'll draw for spots, and we'll get started.

-/-

"Alright, everybody gets settled in as you all stand on your boxes, pick up the bars, release the handle, and this challenge is... _on_..."

From left to right, Shadow, Roy, Greninja, Zelda, Marth, Knuckles, Freddy, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Bonnie, Luigi, and Sheik were all stationary in their positions, all either eyeing their urn, the boxes they were standing on, or had their eyes closed not looking at anything at all. Though in their defense, perhaps it was their own way of getting in the zone.

And those include, Shadow, Greninja, Knuckles, and Foxy, wanting to remain completely focused on what was at stake if they managed to outlast all the remaining competitors in the challenge.

...

"...Everybody is looking good so far." Master Hand noted. "Don't underestimate this challenge. You have very little room to work with. You can't go high, nor can you go too low. So what's your best option? ...Try to remain as frozen as possible. Think like a statue."

"Easier said than done..." Knuckles mumbled under his breath.

"Better hope that time move faster than you might think..."

"...Huh?"

"...Marth's flag went just a little too low. His flag is up, and he is our first casualty."

With a defeated sigh, the Altean hero was already on his way over to the bench.

"It's actually sunny today, Marth. Maybe it's a good thing for you to stay in the shade." The hand suggested.

"Perhaps so..."

"..."

_**SPLASH!**_

"Zelda can't hang in there anymore, she is now out of the challenge."

"Worth a try..." She glanced down at her urn that put out the fire.

"Kinda like Tribal Council. You lose your flame, you are _gone_."

Luigi gripped his hands harder on the bars like never before, as everyone else except Bonnie remained solid, the bunny wiggling slowly in an attempt to find a safe spot.

Though even though he was struggling, Shovel Knight was suddenly no longer in the running.

"Shovel Knight came up too high. Take your spot on the bench."

He started to walk away. "If only we were able to use that water to drink..."

"Don't worry, Shovel." Marth grinned. "The shade is just fine over here."

Roy out of nowhere began to slowly raise, not very comfortable anymore, in spite of never really being comfortable in the first place. Although, knowing the position he was on the tribe, he was not about to give up so easily.

"Come on..." Marth mouthed. He figured he was the group of three's last hope of winning immunity.

Nevertheless, within the next five seconds, a splash was sounded.

"Bonnie came up too high, unable to find a safe spot."

The blue-haired and brunette were relieved.

Just then, another urn fell off the platform and poured all over another one's fire.

"Roy's out of the challenge."

A hand was placed on Marth's face. No immunity for them.

"We are now down to _seven_..."

_**Elapsed Time: 10 Minutes**_

"You've been out here ten minutes, now... Keep doing whatever it is you're doing in order to stay in this..."

"...!"

Sheik's fire was now out.

"Sheik, too high. Take your spot on the bench."

Shaking her head in defeat, she made her way past literally every other castaway that remained in the challenge.

"We now have... Shadow,"

"...?"

"And he squatted a little too much and his flag is up. Not shot at immunity."

The hedgehog could not believed it. He was unable to make at least top four in the past two immunity challenges. Frustrated, he immediately got off and headed to the bench.

"...As I was _saying_,..." Master Hand continued. "We have _Greninja_, Knuckles, Freddy, Foxy, and Luigi..."

Sheik and Shovel Knight were not only impressed by Greninja, but Luigi as well.

At that point, Foxy's eyes were opened gritting his teeth.

"Foxy doesn't seem secure..."

"..." But then, he suddenly found safety.

"...Nice recovery. He seems to be in the zone once again..."

"...Wha?"

Luigi's flame was now extinguished.

"Luigi, didn't even know he was too high, and it was too late for him to notice. No shot at immunity."

In spite of him no longer in the running, some of the castaways including Shovel Knight and Sheik clapped at his efforts.

_**Elapsed Time: 20 Minutes**_

"Been out here an extra ten minutes, now. Greninja, Knuckles, Freddy, and Foxy. Three knights, one emperor. Will the emperor conquer them all, or will the knights overcome the one emperor remaining?"

Roy shook his head. To him, it never even mattered in what order they were all going to be eliminated in the challenge.

Freddy was starting to feel a little too uncomfortable, so he decided to lower himself just a little bit...

...only it was a little bit too much.

"...Freddy, out of the challenge, and the emperor is _defeated_."

"Good try, Freddy." Zelda complimented with a nod, showing the bear that she still cared for him.

"Now it is down to the three knights... Greninja and Knuckles have remained solid for the entire challenge, Foxy only moved once, but maybe this time he's in a safer place." Master Hand observed. "But the thing is, how safe is he, or any of the other two that remain?"

"Keep it up, guys..." said Sheik.

_**Elapsed Time: 26 Minutes**_

"..."

"Greninja starting to wobble..."

"..."

_**SPLASH!**_

"And he's out..."

"I don't think I could have lasted another second on there like that." He told him as most of the other castaways clapped.

"And now, we have a showdown. Knuckles vs Foxy... Who, will, win?"

Both red animals remained as solid as ever.

_**Elapsed Time: 33 Minutes**_

"...!"

"Knuckles is wobbling. First time moving in this entire challenge."

Shadow blinked as everyone else stared.

"Foxy once again on the move..."

"..."

"...!"

_**SPLASH!**_

"_**FOXY WINS INDIVIDUAL IMMUNITY!**_"

Upon hearing the first two words, Michaels immediately raised himself up as he watched his fire came crashing down. He slowly stepped down from his box to place a hand on his lower back attempting to stretch it out, ignoring his fellow survivors clapping for both him and Knuckles, who ended up having an arm around one another as they both made it back to the rest of the group.

"You two did great!" Greninja smirked.

"Foxy, come on over."

Literally all of them clapped at that point, Freddy and Bonnie watching the immunity necklace being hooked around his neck.

"Foxy is now safe at Tribal Council, with a one in eleven shot at winning this game." Master Hand placed a hand on his shoulder. "As for the rest of you, even though twenty-four days wouldn't be enough for any of you, one of you is about to become the second member of our jury at tonight's Tribal Council. Foxy, it will not be you. Congrats."

"Good job, man." The echidna commented him out of respect.

_"I hate losing... but it ended up being me and Foxy." said Knuckles. "I mean, you can't be mad at all at that. He gave it his all just like I have. We're both strong competitors, and if I had to lose to Foxy of all people, then I'm proud of him. At least all the people who we want out don't have immunity, or else we would have been in trouble."_

* * *

**Kinda neat on how there ended up being a showdown between Foxy and Knukles of all people at the challenge.**

**I'm actually kind of a fan when it come to endurance tests in Survivor, and I think it's good to have some of them at the start of the merge for a large group of people. Though at this moment, I don't even know what the next challenge is gonna be lol.**

**So anyway, Roy, feeling defeated, figured that it was best for him to at least bond a little more with some of the castaways he had been stranded with. And as a result, he ended up having even more respect and likability points from Freddy, Luigi, and even Knuckles. Knowing how the latter can be, that is definitely saying something lol. ...Oh, and on a side note, Sheik managed to find yet _another _secret advantage. Lucky ninja indeed.**

**Also, one more announcement... Isabelle (newcomer from Smash Ultimate) is going to be on the Brain Tribe for Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)! And just like that, we officially have our very first Smash 5 newcomer coming into the series. Though originally it was supposed to be somebody else, as I actually plan for Isabelle to be part of season 4 of the series, but then I realized that she is good for the brain tribe in season 3.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What are your honest feelings about Roy right now?**

**2\. When do you guys think Sheik is going to use her steal-a-vote?**

**3\. Who do you think is the biggest remaining physical threat?**

**Vote for your top five players this season and I will see you all for our next elimination! I encourage everyone to review!**


	29. Chapter 29: Day 24 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 29 - Day 24 Part 2

**(Happy New Year! Two holidays in a row!)**

**Okay, so a couple more days to go, and we will be two-thirds of a way completed on the second adventure of my Survivor series.**

**So today we are going to have our next member of our jury and Foxy has immunity, with things are looking good for three of the emperors at the moment since the Shulk blindside since it's 9-3, but it's Survivor for a reason and even the simplest of plans could completely turn into something else, so we'll see...**

**Oh, one more thing. The Brain Tribe's name is ****Coatí, referring to the Coati that is one of Mexico's native animals that is known for its intelligence.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** That's actually a good question. He really played a big part in the Shulk blindside and he's literally the reason to why his secret alliance exists. Definitely something worth speculating. For Foxy, he came into the game with a very small target on his back and now at this point he's proving to be quite a sneaky player so we'll see what happens later down the road.**

**Enjoy!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 24**

* * *

"That was a battle. Nice job, guys."

"Congrats, Foxy."

"How's your back?"

"...It'll go away."

"Hahaha!"

_"Me and Knuckles ended up facing off in the challenge today, and I managed to pull it off and win. Winning individual immunity really means a lot, so the fact that knowing that not only I won an individual challenge, but also not knowing that I'm a hundred percent not going home tonight really gives me a big break in the game. But as far as my position in the game at this point, I'm in two different alliances, and both of them seem to be on the same page... for now. Though the common goal is that we need to get this idol out that Marth has. And no matter if he plays it or not, one of those three will be gone."_

"Good job, man." Foxy and Knuckles embraced and patted each other on the back. "Hopefully you can win the next one."

"Hey, I might not have won, but..." The echidna lowered his voice a couple notches. "at least it wasn't someone that I _wanted_ to win."

Michaels quietly laughed.

"Hey, you guys wanna join us at the beach?" Sheik motioned them to follow the rest of the knights.

_"The tribe quickly separated within minutes when we got back to camp." said Freddy. "Shadow was already pulling me aside as we both left to get water to take advantage of it, because he felt that us two needed to have a check up on one another, which of course I can understand, since we were the two that flipped on our tribe."_

"Let us continue to have one on one talks like this so that we both know what we need to do for each other at this point." The hedgehog started. "I think we really need to have a long term game plan here."

"I agree." He nodded. "I absolutely agree. Both of us will get some kind of heat tonight when Master Hand asked who turned on who at tribal."

"I don't care what kind of heat I got, because I was playing for myself, not for those three." Shadow immediately shook his head. "If those three are ticked off, that's not my problem because I can't play for them when I want to win a million dollars, not just to make friends. ...But back to what we were talking about, I believe that if we are going to work withe each other for a while, our Hidden Five alliance is in the middle of the game here, and us two just so happen to be in the middle of everything. So no matter what happens, both of us must be on the same page."

"Okay..." Freddy nodded again. "I mean if I need you and you need me, then that's a must."

"It is. I am serious." Shadow replied. "Even though I'm notoriously known for turning on people, turning on each other now, we're both out of this game. We'll be the dumbest to ever play in Survivor history."

"Understood." Fazbear bobbed his head up and down for the third time. "We're already being talked about. I'm not trying to make my target even bigger than it needs to be. When it comes to those three, I don't care which of them goes home as long as it's not Zelda, since she's not that physical in challenges."

"We can't turn on Foxy, Knuckles, and Bonnie either." He kept going. "I put my tail on the line for Knuckles and I know Foxy has put his tail on the line for you. Cutting one of them off would be pointless and idiotic. Just because we flipped once does not mean make a move just for the sake of making one. So whatever's next, we need to play both sides really well."

"Sure, trust me. I understand entirely."

_"Just Shadow being Shadow, I suppose." Freddy snickered. "I mean, there's nothing else that needs to be said."_

-/-

"Alright, this is the only time us seven are gonna talk as a group today." Greninja explained to everyone as they all sat near the tribe flag. "Marth will likely play his idol tonight. But that leaves two people. Roy or Zelda?"

_"That conversation that I've had with Roy two days ago after the reward actually meant a lot to me." said Luigi. "I was thinking long and hard about it. Even though Roy's not at the top of the totem pole, he really doesn't want to go home. We both relate to each other rather well and both of us know how hard it is when it comes to dealing with pressure. And so, if I want to work with at least one emperor, I feel like I'm close with Roy the most. And sure he knows where he stands at this point and I'm not planning on turning on the knights,... if I can convince the team to vote for Zelda over Roy,... then maybe, there **is** a chance."_

"Shadow told me that Roy is Marth's number one ally." Sheik informed. "I believe that those two are more likely to work together than Marth and Zelda."

"Well,..." Luigi scratched his head. "if it's one of those two, Zelda could become an underdog threat based on what's happened in her game, and I know how it feels to be left out."

"You know what, I actually agree with Luigi here." Knuckles backed him up. "Roy and Marth can't win everything. Maybe we can get rid of Zelda first, and then Roy."

"I dunno..." Sheik placed a hand on her head in thought. "...What did Freddy say?"

"Freddy said he doesn't want Zelda to go home." Bonnie told them. "He thinks that if Zelda gets too far, then she would be a major threat based on her story, and I have to agree with him. Me and her were on the same tribe as you and Greninja so we all know that Zelda can be highly intelligent when it comes to social strategy, but at the same time, Zelda is not going to win the next eight immunity challenges."

"Bonnie has a point." Greninja was with him. "Roy might not win all the challenges either, but he's more likely to win than Zelda."

"Umm..." Shovel Knight did not know exactly what was the right move at the time. "I'm kind of undecided here... At least we can all agree that Marth is supposed to get the majority of the votes, right?"

_"I don't know if things are going to turn out as well as I would hope." The plumber shook his head. "I've tried my best to convince them that Zelda would be the choice for tonight. I didn't even expect Knuckles of all people to agree, but despite that, the group is still undecided. Oh well. I don't want to come off as aggressive at all, especially when it comes to my strategy, so I had to go right back to being quiet."_

"Well, whether it's gonna be him or her," Bonnie spoke up again. "we all need to come to a consensus if we're all gonna be on the same page here. If we break up, Shadow and Freddy will take advantage over all of us."

_"I'm just tryin' to pretend that I'm with the knights for as long as they wanna go with me, even though eventually it's not gonna happen anymore. I mean, I hate to flip, but Greninja, Sheik, and Shovel Knight are running the show, and they brought Luigi with them. Those four talked quite a bit, but I don't remember any of them trying to get close with me, especially with Foxy and Knuckles, so that's why us three were at the bottom of that tribe in the first place. I'm not the type of person that would aggressively flip on somebody, but if they expect all seven of us to be at the end, I'm not playing for fifth place."_

_-/-_

With those seven at the beach, and Shadow and Freddy at the water well, the three main survivors in question were left all alone at the shelter, and they of course knew it all too well.

"Wow... Could we really feel anymore left out right now?" Roy commented. "I mean, there are twelve people here, and only three of us are at the shelter."

"They're deciding which of the three of us is getting the boot." Marth said with a sigh. "...What was said when me and Zelda was at the reward?"

"Not much." Roy shook. "But I thought to myself that if I was the one that is getting the boot, I decided to take advantage of the remaining time I have out here by getting to know some of these people a little more. Turns out I have more in common with Luigi and Knuckles than I thought, and I've barely talked with Knuckles within the few days that I was with him."

That made Marth smile. "Glad to hear."

_"If it is really us that is going to be picked off one by one, then I suppose my time is running short..." Following that statement, Marth fell silent for at least almost a dozen seconds, just thinking to himself as a million thoughts were going through his head. "...It is rare that one has an opportunity to play such an amazing game like this. I've heard of Survivor before, but based on the circumstances prior to Kodai Island taking place, I've never thought that I had the slightest chance to come out here, and since I've received notice that I was eligible to compete, I made sure I was in contact with Survivor's production team as soon as possible... To know that my days are numbered and I only have a limited amount of time out here, and knowing that I would never even make it to day thirty on Survivor, my adventure feels rather... incomplete to say the least..."_

"Did you guys talk to the people on the reward?" Roy asked them.

"We did bond a little bit over the reward." Zelda recalled. "But for the most part, we were just having side conversations with each other of how are we going to be able to move forward with all three of us staying in the game together."

The Young Lion of the three immediately turned. "I'm not turning my back on you guys. Not only that it is not in my heart to do so, it's completely pointless. Marth, you're getting the most heat because of the idol. If we have a chance of making it out here, distancing myself from you two would be even worse."

"You know, Roy's right when it comes to having general conversation with our tribemates. I know how the both of you feel. Maybe if we are going down, the least we can do is to generally have nice days out here. It's not everyday when we go to Okinawa to be on an island such as this, even though we can easily spend time here outside of the competition..."

"I don't even think I've had at least a thirty second conversation with Bonnie yet..." Marth realized. "I barely even had a chance... He seems like a good young man."

Zelda smiled. "Yes, he is... I know what we can do. Why don't we all just... sit on the beach looking at the sunset for a little bit right before we head off to Tribal Council? That way if one of us is going home,..."

"then we have to at least live this experience to the fullest, just how we do in our regular lives." Marth completely agreed, but then he turned to Roy. "You know... now that I think about it,... I'm actually glad you weren't with us on the reward."

"How come?"

"...You got to have quite a few one on one conversations with the others on the island, unlike me and Zelda." Lowell responded. "Even though you never got to eat any of the food, at least you have bigger opportunities to interact with the ones that were with you at the time. But most importantly,... as much as I hate to say it,... I believe that it is going to be you..."

"..."

"I'm sorry, but I feel as if they assume that Zelda is less likely to win challenges..." Marth apologized. "And of course,..."

"...you have an idol."

"...I do." Marth figured that there was no point in protecting the idol from everyone anymore, pulling it from his bag. "I found it at night before the final immunity challenge prior to the swap. And since if they are splitting the votes, majority of the votes would be on me to force the idol out."

"...Dang..." Roy looked down."

"I'm sorry..."

"No need to apologize." He shook his head. "You were fortunate enough to be sent to Exile Island. I was not..."

"Well, it does not mean that nobody else had the chance even though Marth had the advantage." Zelda said. "Shulk wanted to find the idol before you did and without a clue."

"..."

"..."

"Well, since he has been eliminated last tribal, I guess it does not even matter anymore..." It was Marth's turn to look down. "But the bottom line is that if any of us three is getting their torch snuffed, it's probably Roy... And Roy, even though there is not much that we can do, I still apologize, only because of you wanting to play this game so badly. Not every season has adolescents such as yourself out on the battlefield competing. You really deserve to be here."

He smiled warmly. "Thanks, Marth."

_"To know that I am in a situation that is nearly impossible for me to get out of given how much the majority has an advantage over us makes me feel... hopeless. Like the world is ending and there is literally nothing you can do about it. It is as if the enemy is seconds away from victory, and I am supposed to be the last one standing because of the idol, and I have to make a giant sacrifice to save myself to show that I will never give up no matter what occurs, because it is something that I am not used to experiencing. In this case scenario,... even though I have to play my idol to save myself, in doing so, Roy will be sacrificed... **Darn**..." It hit Marth like a ton of bricks. "My number one ally..."  
_

"..." Zelda was thinking. "Are us three still going to vote for Greninja?"

"Perhaps we should." Roy replied. "Just to send them a message. Though Knuckles may have earned more points in the physical capability category, Greninja has stronger connections. Getting rid of him would hopefully start the downfall in the tribe... Although, I don't know how are we going to swing somebody over like that, based on how tight those nine are..."

"Well,..." Zelda thought out loud. "I think I have an idea."

Both Marth and Roy immediately stared.

"What if we just vote for Shadow?"

"..."

The two swordsmen both eyed each at other, then back at Zelda.

"Possibly sending Shadow home?"

"If another emperor is going, maybe we can perhaps make things easier for them by us throwing Shadow under the bus." The Hyrulian suggested. "We just need to convince them at tribal that Shadow is not someone that they should work with in the future, given his reputation in the game thus far. It does not matter how many of whoever is willing to help send him out, since the only person that would probably not agree is Knuckles."

_"I feel like I've been fighting for quite a while now, but like a knight, an emperor never gives up no matter what is in the path." Zelda shook her head. "The nine person alliance is splitting votes between either Marth and Roy, or between Marth and myself, 5-4. Marth plays his idol, and that means that we need at least one person to help us send Shadow out of the game by showing them that working with Shadow, not only by him being an emperor, but him being the most likely person that would turn. Those knights aren't going to break up any time soon, so if it is going to be an emperor again, then we should tell them that they should at least send home the right person. For all they know, Shadow could very well work a plan that would mess up theirs. Sure, Shadow is an original Nago member, but if we wrote down a knight again, that would make us even more untrustworthy and would just give them another reason to why one of us would be sent on the jury. If one or more of original Chatan join us, then the game would still be broken."_

"..." Roy blinked with his jaw hung open. "Seriously?"

"Now that I think about it,... I supposed it is worth a shot." Marth was on board. "I am playing my idol after all. If I can play my idol, and have all three of us get away with it, it would be such a move."

"I'm down for it as well, but there is just one thing I am concerned." Roy was a bit hesitant about something. "Shadow was with us since the beginning. If we get rid of him, it is just another original Nago that is going to be eliminated..."

"Well Roy," said Marth. "let's just face it. At this point, it is not Emperors vs Knights anymore..."

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 24**

* * *

The tribe of Bikutā returned to Tribal Council, their well lit torches being placed down in any of the spots that were open, subsequently sitting down in different spots in the two rows.

"We'll now bring in the first member of our jury..."

They all took a glance to their right to see the blonde young man himself. Wearing more a 'white' version of his original attire, the heir to the Monado held a large grin on his face making his way over to the jury bench as some of his former tribe members smiled back.

"Shulk voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Freddy's smile was a little more guilty. Then again, at least it was better that not smiling at all, Shadow looking as if he had no regrets whatsoever as Shulk sat down in the middle of the bench.

"Alright. So last Tribal Council, we were all talking about tribe lines where it was six emperors and seven knights." Master Hand brought up. "And even though an emperor was the one that got sent to the jury, three of the emperors were still in shock. Roy, what happened?"

"...Well, when it comes to thinking back, I guess we can start with the fact that I was not even expecting two of our names to be written down last tribal." He began. "The Emperors Alliance being on the bottom was one thing, but I certainly didn't expect two of us aid the enemy into voting us off. It's not as if we didn't expect Shulk to go, because at that point we were more shocked that two of us received the votes at the time."

"Okay." Master Hand wanted to get straight to the point, holding himself vertically. "Let's get right to it. If you flipped, raise your hand."

"..."

The hedgehog and bear both had their hands raised.

"Shadow?"

"I turned on my old tribe again. So what?"

Shulk immediately shook his head.

"Well, I guess we can just talk about how much heat you got for that!" Master Hand giggled a little.

"They questioned me and Freddy on why we did what we did, and we just told them that we did what we had to do. How funny it would have been if they would have flipped themselves and they would have the nerve to expect that no one would say anything, but now that they're the ones that are on the bottom, they're complaining and groaning about it."

"Master, we are not trying to be sore losers about it, because we all know what we signed up for." Roy wanted to make himself clear. "You can't just sit around and expect to get to the end of the game without doing literally nothing to control your own fate. Though the problem with Shadow is his way of defending himself when it comes to these situations. He already turned on Mega, now Shulk, who's next? And unlike Freddy, Shadow's excuses for turning on people are rather flawed to say the least."

"And how do you feel about Freddy?"

Fazbear was not even exchanging glances with Roy.

"...I feel that Freddy Fazbear is down to earth. Even though we didn't see eye to eye, at least he has more valid excuses than Shadow to say the least, since he was apparently a target. If he felt that he needed to make a game move, then he did what he was supposed to for his own best interest, while at the same time actually backing up his arguments... I mean,... I still like the guy."

"Thank you." The anthropomorphic animal himself actually turned and grinned.

"Most likely Freddy flipped because he knew Shadow was flipping, master." Zelda hypothesized. "Otherwise, he would have had very little options if Fazbear was the only original Nago member in Chatan's alliance."

"Now compare his reasoning with Shadow's justification for flipping. Give me an example." The Hand wanted her to elaborate.

"I'll start." Marth volunteered. "After Mega Man was eliminated, all Shadow basically told me was that he was too much of a threat. Though it sounds as if it is a good response on paper, it only raises more questions. Why don't you tell us of how getting rid of Mega Man was a bigger priority than us having the numbers at merge? And now, look what happened."

"If Mega had to leave, he had to leave. I knew exactly what I was doing, and I went with my gut." The hedgehog was not even eyeing Lowell at that point. "I knew about Nago's overall game plan, yet I was playing my own individual game at the same time. At this point as far as I'm concerned, it is not Nago strong anymore, and I knew I had to flip..."

"...So, you're saying that you thought you were on the bottom?"

"Took you this long to figure it out, didn't it?"

"Okay, _Marth_," Master Hand called on him. "was Shadow on the bottom?"

"We didn't go to enough Tribal Councils to determine who was on the bottom at the time. For all we know, my alliance could have been trying to vote me out because of Exile Island."

That was when Shadow made a complete turn around and faced Marth directly in his eyes. "Alright, I'm tired of the speculation about this. I'm gonna ask you this right now. Do you have an idol?"

"..." Marth began digging in his bag, much to the surprise, yet confirmation of everyone as eyes were either staring at the bag, Marth himself, each other, or even Shulk on the jury.

"Here we go..." Old Nago's idol was finally revealed. "Here it is right here. I'll put this around my neck for now just to show everyone that I do indeed have it."

"Couldn't have come at a better time than now..." Shadow commented.

"I found it at night because everyone was already expecting me to sneak away from the tribe and look for it." Altea's hero informed.

"That is completely irrelevant compared to our discussion..."

"..._Sheik_. Guess what," Master Hand held his hand out. "Marth has an idol."

"You know," She smirked. "I was wondering when an idol is going to be played. And now I just might get my answer really soon, no matter who Marth decides to play the idol on."

"So you're saying that your alliance is planning on splitting some votes."

"Absolutely."

"That settles it, then..." Marth knew at that moment he had enough official information to take advantage of the situation. "Everyone, for those of you that are curious, the three of us have decided that we are going to put Shadow's name down."

Freddy widened his eyes while all the knights exchanged glances.

"And not for any emotional reasons." Roy shook his head to avoid people getting the wrong idea. "Just for his reputation in general. Based off of personal experience, I do not consider Shadow to be a trustworthy guy. And in order for the seven or... _eight _of you to move forward, perhaps some of you would be interested in voting off Shadow before he out of nowhere decides to turn on you guys."

"..." Shadow immediately rested his elbow on his leg, his head in the palm of his right hand as he began shaking in frustration.

Knuckles had a weird look on his face.

"Zelda, generally asking," The host spoke again. "what are you, Marth, and Roy are trying to accomplish here?"

"We are trying to show the knights that if they desire to work with people that they could trust, Shadow the Hedgehog does not have a reputation for being the most loyal." The Hyrulian replied. "Suppose they continue to work with him, he all of a sudden flips again, and now somebody from the Knights Alliance is on the jury."

"Better to get rid of him before he gets rid of any of you in my opinion." Roy added facing the rest of the Bikutā tribe. "I am uncertain if any of you would take the offer, but if you all desire to make it as far as possible, working with ones that you can't trust, worst case scenario, it is going to cost one of you the title of Sole Survivor."

"And I believe that this is an opportunity to send him packing." Marth nodded. "Better now than never, or else, Shadow will blindside his way to the end."

"...Shadow, what are you feeling right now?"

"Annoyed... Irritated... And a few other words I can't think of at the moment." He remained in his position, but then, he suddenly realized that he was not the type of person that would not give up rather easily. If they were going to fight, he was going to do the same."

He faced the rest of his tribemates. "I hope you all realize that they are literally only saying this just because of their position in the game. It is what underdogs do best. If they were in the majority, they would be downright near silent and not acting like this right now."

Greninja and Luigi just blinked.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I apologize if any of us are sounding too aggressive at this moment." said Marth. "But it is clear that we are fighting for our spots in the game just as everyone else. And like Shadow is saying, if any of you were in our shoes, you all would be fighting just as much, since none of us that are sitting here (including Shadow) are planning on going down without a fight. But if you're working with someone that was not with you on the same day, on the opposing team, and has a certain reputation, you are basically working with a complete wildcard over here."

"I'll tell you what is also difficult to work with." Shadow clearly had his own opinion. "It is also difficult to work with someone who you know has an idol, is... _likable_, and an underdog that would earn jury votes."

Bonnie's eyes were widened at the conversation unfolding having his own thoughts of it all.

"How do you know if I am just saying this just to work with the knights in the future? I am simply helping them in case any of them desire to win this game."

Knuckles all of a sudden motioned Shovel Knight that was next to him and began whispering. Before anyone could have even reacted, Foxy got up from his spot, made his way past Marth and Luigi, and began quietly speaking with Bonnie.

Shadow rolled his eyes.

"Shadow."

"At this point in Survivor, it is becoming nothing but a _trend_."

"Well," Master Hand held himself out. "if that's how they want to have private strategic conversations,... so be it."

"Well put, master." Roy could not have agreed more.

Just then, Luigi Mario rose from his spot and walked diagonally to Roy squatting down.

"...I want to know for sure. Who are you voting for?"

"Shadow. You can get some people and vote with us if you want."

Luigi then made his way over to Shovel Knight to begin whispering while Greninja chose to get up and made his way over to the conversation between Foxy and Bonnie while Knuckles was now speaking with Sheik.

"You two are having second thoughts?" He asked. "Because if you are, if the rest of us can agree then maybe we could perhaps get Marth to flush his idol and vote out Shadow right now."

"But then those three would make it out alive..." Bonnie reminded.

Shulk had his hands over his mouth.

At that point, Shadow chose to play the whisper game himself as he began speaking with Knuckles. And seconds later, literally everyone was on their feet getting themselves involved in at least one conversation...

...except for one person.

"Freddy." The reality TV show host noticed. "_Nobody _talking to you."

"Guess I'll just sit here..." He grinned, before being tapped on the shoulder by Bonnie, motioning him to get up to join his conversation.

"Luigi might flip?" Zelda's eyes grew a bit larger as she was conversing with Roy.

"He might. But he's trying to get more numbers."

"...Let's just get with Marth and Sheik."

And the ninja just pulled in Greninja again, and right when Roy and Zelda showed up, one by one, the FNAF trio joined in, leaving Shadow and Knuckles on their own besides Luigi and Shovel Knight.

"...And it seems that they're having a major conversation we should be a part of..." Shovel Knight blinked, before getting up from his spot. "Come on..."

Thus, it officially left the echidna and the hedgehog.

"I don't want you to go home..." The former shook.

"What are they talking about?"

"I don't know, but they're discussing _something_!"

"Why don't you find out?"

"I told Shovel Knight that you are staying. Hopefully everyone's reassured that nothing is changed, or else..."

"Go join them..." Shadow was glaring. "I'm the only one that is probably not allowed in their discussion, anyway."

Unfortunately for Knuckles, by the time he made it over, Greninja, Sheik, Freddy and Bonnie were already pulling away, the former two and the latter two now having their own talks.

"You _sure_ you want to do this?" Sheik needed to know her teammate's game plan.

"That's who I'm writing down." He responded.

"Alright, then."

Eventually, everyone separated and ended up sitting down in their original places.

"..._Now_..." Master Hand knew he was at the center of attention once more. "We have two options here. Should we continue our discussion, or do you guys just wanna go ahead and vote?"

"No." Shadow disagreed completely and the rapid turning of his head showed it. "I will make my statement, and _then _we will vote."

All eyes were on the Mobian as his eyes met theirs.

"If you all choose to vote me out tonight instead of what we discussed, then if all three of them make it out alive this tribal, it increases their chances of making it far. You choose to work with them, then that's fine. But if they make it far and begin putting you all on the jury, don't say I didn't warn you."

...

"...So Shadow,... you done?"

"I am finished, master." He said with a nod with arms folded.

"..._Alright_. If everyone is ready, then it is time, to, vote. Roy, you're up."

Getting up from his spot, he made his way past Shulk as he gave him somewhat of a hopeful look as the jury member simply remained put, the red-haired young adult wasting no time putting Shadow's name down.

After giving a brief look at Shadow, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Luigi, and Freddy all followed in suit, Zelda going afterwards spelling out the black hedgehog's name.

"Justice for Peach."

Following Sheik and Greninja was the perceived flipper himself, making sure the camera got a good view of Marth's name in big letters, the blue haired sword wielder staring straight at him.

Bonnie was the next to vote, which mean that Marth was last, also not taking too much time spelling out Shadow at all.

"This is the first opportunity I have putting your name down. We've let you remain in the game for far too long. It is time for the hero to conquer the villain once and for all."

He made his way back and sat down.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Knuckles stared down at the ground as Shadow had a fist beneath his chin, Zelda eyeing Master Hand all the while.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so."

Without waiting another second, Marth Lowell rose from his spot and gave his idol to Master Hand.

"Alright, then..." commented Greninja.

"This is a hidden immunity idol." The hand confirmed. "Any votes cast for Marth will not count."

Roy crossed his fingers.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Literally no one made any sort of reaction.

"First vote... Shadow."

He was still almost as if he was as frozen as a statue.

"Shadow. Two votes Shadow."

Knuckles still felt a pit in his stomach.

"Shadow. Three votes Shadow."

...

"Marth. Does not count."

"..."

"Marth. Does not count."

He heaved a quick sigh of relief, though Zelda appeared to look as if she was not so sure.

"Marth. Does not count."

"Marth. Does not count."

Shulk leaned in out of anticipation.

"Marth. Does not count."

Shadow still sat frozen in place.

"Roy. One vote Roy."

He curled his lips as Foxy did not even blink even though Luigi did.

"Roy. Two votes Roy, two votes Shadow."

...

"We're tied. Three votes Roy, three votes Shadow, one vote left."

Roy was as nervous as ever. Seeing his name written down was one thing, yet he was nearly voted out at that point. Shadow as usual made literally no movement whatsoever.

Luigi finally curled his lips.

"Ninth person voted out of Survivor and the second member of our jury..."

Roy closed his eyes.

"...Roy. You need to bring me your torch."

With a big sigh, he slowly got up from his spot, embracing both Zelda and Marth individually.

"We tried." The latter spoke.

"I know, just hang in there."

Shadow turned his head side to side without even looking at anyone.

Greninja exchanged glances with some of the other members of the Knights Alliance.

"Let us do it, master."

"Roy, the tribe has spoken."

_Snuff._

"Time for you to go."

Before he left the Tribal Council area, he shared his final words. "I just wanna say that I appreciate the twenty-four days I've spent with you all. We'll all be at the reunion show later to discuss. I'll be at Ponderosa rooting for you."

"Thank you, Roy."

"Bye, Roy."

"See ya, Roy."

"Good luck."

And taking his time down the stairs, he was officially gone.

"Well," Master Hand had his own turn sharing his final words for the night. "now that the only emperor that was at Exile Island played his idol, the question is simple... What now? Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Shadow**

**Marth** **\- Shadow**

**Roy****\- Shadow**

**Shadow**** \- _Marth_**

**Freddy**** \- Roy**

**Luigi**** \- Roy**

**Sheik**** \- _Marth_**

**Greninja**** \- _Marth_**

**Knuckles**** \- _Marth_**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Roy**

**Bonnie**** \- Roy**

**Foxy**_** \- Marth**_

_**12th Place: **_**Roy**

* * *

_"Such an amazing experience. I've enjoyed every minute of it. I came into this game classified as an emperor. Yet thanks to this experience, it has taught me that losing and being defeated is not something you can kick yourself for, because you know that you've given it your all. And if you feel if you did just that, there is really nothing else you can do. ...Father, I'm thinking about you."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Marth, Shadow, Freddy, Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

_**Jury:**_

**Shulk, _Roy_**

* * *

**The Young Lion himself.**

**Roy really had his moment to shine this episode. The moment when he knew that there was at least a possibility he could be gone, he really took advantage of the remaining time he had. Never thought I would care for Roy that much, but I really like the guy now. I mean, he bonded with Knuckles of all people lol.**

**But unfortunately for him, Zelda, and Marth, things didn't work out in their favor. Oh well. At least Marth didn't go home with an idol in his pocket, which would have been the worst mistake in his life lol.**

**So now it's 9-2... Absolute disaster. Though if you were reading up to this point, you know that there are clearly cracks and fractions within the nine person majority; 9 is much to large of a number in a eleven person tribe.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What are the chances the Pirate Crew would strike next tribal?**

**2\. What was your reaction of this Tribal Council as a whole? (Longest tribal in the story so far.)**

**Another character for Survivor - Mexico will be revealed on Saturday (beauty tribe member) so stay tuned! Watch my YouTube intro, vote for your top five favorite characters this season and I will see you next time!**


	30. Chapter 30: Day 25 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 30 - Day 25 Part 1

**Hello, back again!**

**It actually took me a while for me to get this chapter started, but I'm finally putting this to work.**

**So in a last ditch effort, Marth and Zelda decided to throw Shadow under the bus with Roy for being untrustworthy and hope the Knights Alliance thought twice of them really wanting to work with him. Though it didn't work and Roy was sent home, and now Marth and Zelda are presumably at the bottom of a tribe of eleven. Though clearly it's never that simple. That last minute ditch effort to get rid of Shadow is clearly gonna rub some people the wrong way. Knuckles was even the first to start whispering.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Shadow is going to be very ticked at Marth and Zelda for throwing him under the bus at tribal almost causing him to go home lol. I really enjoyed how Master Hand read the votes there.**

**So we'll just see what happens next...**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 24**

* * *

Zelda, Shadow, Foxy, Bonnie, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Sheik, Luigi, Marth, and Freddy all returned to their shelter after them getting the Tribal Council out of the way, each lying their torches against the same tree from before.

_"So the remaining emperors of the game did what they did best." Sheik began to recall. "They decided to save their own skins in the game, that their best interest was to throw Shadow under the bus to show us of how Shadow can not be trusted due to him constantly turning on his tribe. And when the whispering session began, we talked about it to see where everybody's head were if anyone was thinking twice about our plan, but we all came to an agreement that we could not have had all three of those emperors survive that tribal, especially with one of them having the idol, which we finally got rid of. And having Shadow and Freddy involved were two more votes that were needed to help us split votes. Basically, just because Shadow is not meant to be trusted with his old tribe, does not mean it's the same story for us. That was why our plan remained consistent."_

"You alright?"

The ninja was now with the hedgehog and Shovel Knight, the former being completely frustrated. "That was unacceptable... It really was. To pave me as a villain in front of the jury just because I made a move of what I thought was in my best interest was already something I didn't sit well with. This is exactly why I turned on them in the first place, and now I even have more reasons to why I did what I did, so if anything, they only proved a point. They were simply trying to make me look foolish in front of the jury just because I had no plans on working with them anymore since I knew my place. Now it's my fault for going my own way in a game of Survivor?"

"Well, they were most likely saying that just to buy themselves more time out here, that's all." Sheik told him. "These kind of things happen when one is on the bottom."

Shadow stared off in another direction for a bit. Though he agreed, he was still quite annoyed about it. "I suppose you're right... But, seriously..."

"Just try to not think too much of it." Shovel Knight suggested. "Tribal Council is over and done with. Let's just all get ready to go to bed so we can all get a good night sleep. Most likely we have a challenge to compete in tomorrow..."

Meanwhile, Foxy, Freddy, Knuckles, and Bonnie were all having their own conversation by the beach.

"What was that all about?" Knuckles was the first to speak. "Do you guys realize what they done? Shadow could have been sent home tonight if I didn't step up and say anything!"

"Exactly right." Foxy nodded in agreement. "I knew he was going to be in hot water but not to the point where those three campaigned for him to actually be voted out."

_"In spite of our plan working out in the end, Marth, Roy, and Zelda, all threw Shadow under the bus as part as this last minute plan for them all to make it tonight." Knuckles stated. "...I mean, that's my number one ally. I wasn't just gonna sit there and just let it happen. He could have been sent home, and that woiuldn't have helped my game at all. So... kinda ticked of how things went down but I guess this is what happens when you have multiple sides of the story..."_

Freddy was shaking his head about the matter. "The moment when they told us that they were going to put Shadow's name down, my heart immediately sank... Worse case scenario, Shadow would have went home, and all of our games would have been messed up..."

"You good?" Bonnie shifted his head to Knuckles for a bit.

"I'm fine, just relieved and annoyed at the same time, you know?"

"I see what you're saying." Foxy nodded once more. "We obviously need to start voting off our own at this point. ...All we need to do is that if us five stay together,... and if we bring in Marth and Zelda,... the seven of us together can vote off one of those four."

_"I mean, Shadow's part of the Pirate Crew here. Just like the master informed the contestants in Pearl Islands, when a pirate is proven to not be useful anymore, they get rid of em. Shadow is clearly still useful for my game and for this entire hidden alliance. So we gotta protect each other. ...And I'm of course not comfortable with the whole Shadow situation. Sure, only Marth, Zelda, and Roy put his name down, but I've been hearing from those other people that Shadow was basically taken into consideration of him getting the boot, and Bonnie and Knuckles heard the same. And even though it ended up being Roy getting the boot anyway, Shadow's name was still thrown out there. I mean, we were planning on making a move against the four of them, anyway. This just put the final nail in the coffin. One of the four of them will be going home, and it seems that if Greninja doesn't win immunity, his game is toast."_

"I mean, maybe to Zelda and Marth, Shadow deserved the backlash, anyway, since him dictating the future of his fellow emperors bit him in the butt.." Bonnie shrugged.

"Tail..." Foxy blinked blankly, causing Bonnie to chuckle.

"Sure, _tail_ it is. But we're still working with him. I'm not gonna ride their coattails and get dragged to fifth place. I feel that if we don't get one of them out now, either Shadow or Freddy are gonna go soon, and then we're gonna be targeted by default next because they're closer to each other than they are with us."

"I'll just make sure I'm on their good side." Freddy told them. "Shadow's gonna feel some type of way, so I'll probably have to check up on him tomorrow to make sure he's alright."

Knuckles sighed. "I'll help..."

_"So Foxy told us that the best thing to do is to bring Marth and Zelda over so we can all work together and blindside Greninja, Luigi, Sheik, and Shovel." Freddy sat by the beach, his back leaning against a rock. "What I like about it is even though they're not the core five, there would be four original emperors versus three knights. So maybe it would make them think that old Nago has an advantage, which is also great for me, because it means that if I get to work with my old friends again, it would look good for me in front of the jury, even Shadow despite him getting the backlash tonight. All this means that I need to bond with them as much as I can... especially since Shadow is laying down on the exact opposite end of the shelter from Zelda and Marth..."_

-/-

"Hey, if you guys want story time, I'm willing to fill you all in with something that I thought of..."

"Okay, I'm already curious." Greninja admitted to Foxy. "Fill us in..."

The red fox now had the floor as they all laid in the shelter ignoring the fire. "Alright, so... There was always this story going around. When I became a... 'pirate', back in the day there was an actual pirate back in the day just like myself. And apparently, he had his hand cut off due to some shark accident."

Literally no words were spoken, which was what Michaels expected anyway.

"So then he decided to replace it with a pirate hook. He hooked up with someone and had a family. The wife decided to cut her own hand off so that the husband wouldn't feel alone. ...And... they decided to start a new tradition for all future pirate foxes to have one of their hands cut off... And from that point on, it became a major trend. Though clearly this is the twenty-first century, so obviously things have changed."

Shovel Knight could not even blink.

_"You know it is sort of something to note of how Foxy is this 'pirate' performing at a carnival for people, but apparently there is even more backstory to it than we all thought. ...The whole thing was rather... interesting to say the least... A bit uncomfortable given the details about it, but... I'll get used to it. I'm currently imagining it and playing it out in my head at the moment..."_

"I..." Even Bonnie was stunned.

"So knowing you know what you are doing right now back at home, how many people have brought that up since then?" Zelda was curious. "Is it a story that everyone is aware of?"

"I wasn't aware of it..." Bonnie shook his head.

"Me neither..." said Freddy.

"Almost every fox in existence where I'm from knows about it, but I guess since I'm a 'pirate fox' at this carnival, the few other people that did know about it brought it up to me every now and then because it's symbolic of course. I try to brush it off and make jokes about it, but that didn't work, so I just decided to tell the whole story about it. The young fox kids that I meet know it all too well already so we get to share the story together."

_"Honestly I forgot to tell my tribemates about the whole thing." Foxy laughed. "But better late than never, I guess. It was just something that I found interesting... and even a bit amusing to share. I mean, **I'm **of course not gonna cut off my hand because I need both of em, you know? But I guess it was also good to share with them some history behind my species back in the day just for some general discussion around here."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 25**

* * *

The following day, the moment a few castaways knew that it was sprinkling, they presumed that the weather was only to get even worse, and it did. It was now pouring down on the Bikutā beach as all eleven remaining castaways were either asleep or awake, remaining in the same place they were in the shelter. Though for the ones that were awake predicting how hard it was going to precipitate simply returned to their slumber, only wanting to be awakened when they were aware that a challenge was coming for them.

Greninja and Sheik were two that have been up all the while, the former staring in no direction in particular, hinting at the possibility that he was lost in his own thoughts.

"...Hey..."

He suddenly turned to Sheik who was trying to get his attention. "...Yeah?"

"You alright?"

"I'm fine..."

"Okay, just making sure." She whispered back. "I remember on old Chatan at the beginning of the game you told me that you almost froze to death, and because of the rain, it's kind of chilly out here at the moment."

"Oh..." Greninja smirked. He wanted to giggle a little, but literally the rest of his tribe surrounding him killed his chances. "I mean I'm fine. I'm not that cold but thanks for checking up on me I guess. ...You really thought about that, haven't you?"

"Yeah, I was kind of worried. I mean, this is the warmest we'll be right now. If we were indoors I wouldn't have thought about it."

"Well, just to make sure you know that I'm alright, I don't mind playing in the snow, even though I get occasional flashbacks if I'm out for too long." He reassured her. "But it's just rain. It's nothing compared to snow so trust me."

"Alright." The ninja smiled back. "If you say so."

_"Me and Sheik still have a strong relationship, both for the game and in general. I was surprised when I found out that she was worrying about me. Back on day one I told her that I basically almost died by nearly being frozen to death. Maybe she didn't want me to feel some type of way where I was thinking about what happened back then. I mean, I'll be honest. I was a little cold, but not too much, so past events never crossed my mind at all at the time until she brought up. But hey, I wanted to let her know that I really appreciate it. Really says a lot of what she thinks of me."_

"Hopefully the rain will stop soon, right?"

"_Really_ hope it would." Greninja replied with a nod. "I was thinking about heading in the water today but obviously it's not gonna work, unless I pray to the Survivor Gods for a water challenge today so we would have no choice but to be out in the rain. I mean, I am a water guy obviously."

_"We might be a very close pair in the game, but it doesn't mean that I'm gonna turn on her. Right now the original knights have the majority over four emperors and two of them we need to discuss what to do with at this point. And at the same time, we don't want the rest of our old alliance (including Shovel Knight) to get suspicious of all relationship, because then they would want us out. If we go after each other, we're dead."_

Those two were near Marth and Zelda, which meant that Shadow was at the opposite end of the shelter on the Greninja's right. He, too, was also awake, yet for some reason he could not go back to sleep. Thus, he chose to simply lie there staring at nothing in particular to reflect.

_"I don't know why,..." He started. "but I found myself thinking a lot about what happened last night. I was literally almost voted out, and even though it wasn't the first time my name has written down, I knew I had a bigger chance of being sent out of the game due to my reputation with my former tribemates. And eventually, it led to me to just thinking about myself in general. See, prior to me coming out here back on my home world Mobius, there too, I was involved with quite a bit of controversy."_

A few minutes later, Shadow was now struggling to keep his eyes open. Sure, initially he knew that he had a hard time returning to his sleep, though now he was debating to himself on whether or not he should actually stay awake.

_"The public perception of me was rather mixed based off my reputation as well, so it is almost no different than me being in this game. Though in the real world, I suppose my main issue was that everyone was always pulling me back in forth due to me being needed for a variety of tasks. Some... were not pleasant to say the least. But I attempted at those anyway, and that was where I began to get comments with people telling me that I'm not acting like myself and that I was being pulled over to the dark side. But then when I felt as if I was trying to do something right, I was told that I was not standing up for myself. ...Long story short, I was facing quite an identity crisis if I were to explain in a sentence."_

Shadow was losing his battle on staying awake as the rain continued to pour.

_"What is it about me that people want? I try to do what's best for me at one point, and it doesn't work. Next minute I try to do what they call, 'what's right', and it doesn't work. Same for me being in this game. I voted out one of my own, I voted out one member of the opposition, and now that I knew of my place in the original emperors, I wanted to protect myself, but I still got it wrong. ...I don't know what people want for me, but at this point in the game of Survivor, the only person I should and will continue to care about is Shadow the Hedgehog until I get my hands on the million dollars. I can't just wait and let people tell me what to do anymore."_

And at that point, the hedgehog finally surrendered and let sleep take control of his body.

* * *

**Day 25**

* * *

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?" Master Hand was facing the remaining castaways as he began to explain the challenge's objective. "Now, this time, not many people will remember this, but that is because that this challenge was only done _one_ time, _way _back in 2007 in Survivor - _Fiji_."

That almost made no noise whatsoever.

Greninja scratched his head. "Most non Survivor fans don't even remember that season..."

"For today's challenge, you will be divided into two teams of five, with one person riding along a chariot while the other four team members pulled that person along, racing across a four hundred meter course, occasionally stopping to allow the person some time untying bags for a puzzle. Once your team is back, that person who untied bags, as well as one other person must work together to solve a puzzle."

"One more important thing to note: because of the fact that we have eleven people, one person will not participate in this challenge, and that person will have no shot at reward. But do you wanna know what you're playing for?"

They were ready to hear it.

"The winning team of _five _will take part in something special. Those five be picked up by a boat where they will witness a match of _Sōjutsu_."

All eleven castaways were speechless.

"A japanese spear fighting sport will happen right before your eyes where you will all get to see one for yourselves. Afterwards, you will feast on all kinds of sushi, ramen, and tempura."

That was when there was heck of a lot of talk among the group.

"We will choose two captains, divide into two teams of five, and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, we have our two captains. Knuckles was a captain. He chose Bonnie, Foxy, Sheik, and Shovel Knight. Shovel Knight is going to ride the chariot."

The former four castaways had red rope tied around their waists as Shovel Knight stood tall on a wooden like chariot.

"Zelda was a captain. She chose Freddy, Greninja, Shadow, and Marth."

And Zelda just so happened to be the one that was set to simply ride the chariot. Switching over from the blue team, there was one remaining castaway that was forced to sit out.

"Luigi was not chosen and has no shot at reward."

He simply shrugged in reaction with a slight head shake. At least he never had to worry about facing the fear of possibly losing.

"Here we go. For reward. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

And both teams took off, Bonnie, Foxy, Sheik, Knuckles, Freddy, Greninja, Shadow, and Marth all dashing as fast as possible across the sand as it rained all over.

"Remember, you are only as fastest as your slowest!" Master Hand reminded. "But both teams are looking mighty strong, red team off to a one second lead!"

Thus, they were able to get to their first bag just a second ahead of the blue team, Shovel Knight beginning the untying process, Zelda doing the same for her team.

"Red team is literally all made up of knights, while the blue team has four emperors and only one knight. I don't know if it will mean anything at this stage in the game, but let's see how it goes..."

It was all based on how quickly one was able to get through the knots, even though both members of the merged tribe had fast fingers, which made it a bit more unpredictable in spite of the red team's one second lead. Thus, it was about the same time the two managed to get the job done for their group, with them immediately taking off once again caused the both of them to fall back. Luckily for Zelda and Shovel Knight, there was a barrier that prevented them from falling off.

"Both teams are heading for their second bag! Zelda and Shovel Knight are at it once again. They both were part of the puzzle portion of the very first challenge of this season. Will they both perform well again this time?"

Like last time, both members managed to get their bags undone around the same time, the teams sprinting out once again in the rain. Luigi who was watching, had no idea who to root for, since there were people that he generally liked on both teams. So he remained silent and bent his cap over a little bit to decrease the chances of water getting directly in his eyes even though it was already happened to begin with.

"We are _still_ neck and neck!" Master Hand observed as Zelda and Shovel Knight both made it to their third and final bags almost simultaneously, neither one of them slowing down when it came to the untying. Therefore, both teams had to return to the starting point as fast as possible, once Shadow and Greninja both retrieved their colored flags for their respective teams.

"It is now going to be a _**big **_sprint back to the start!"

Though the eight runners were dashing across the sand as fast as their legs allowed them to, fatigue was already beginning to set in for most of the castaways, in spite of Shadow, Knuckles, Greninja, and Foxy trying their best to push through.

"Half the runners are slowing down a bit while the other half are giving it all they can!"

"Keep pushing! Keep pushing!"

"Save your breath..." Bonnie immediately told Knuckles.

Yet eventually, they all made it back, Zelda and Shovel Knight helping untie Greninja and Sheik as the four of them headed over to the puzzle portion of the challenge.

"We have been dead even for the entire challenge so far. Let's see if that will make any difference _here_." said Master Hand. "Now you have three sets of puzzle pieces that will reveal one number at a time, where you will then use those three numbers for a combination wheel."

And both duos were immediately beginning to place pieces in their first part of the puzzle.

"From there, it's like how you are undoing a lock in high school. First you turn it clockwise, counter-clockwise, then clockwise again."

"So basically, left, right, left?"

"Right, left, right, Knuckles..." Sheik corrected the echidna. "Right is always clockwise."

"Oh..."

"Zelda and Greninja completed their first number. Shovel Knight and Sheik right behind!"

At that point, Luigi was now hugging himself leaning forward a little, becoming more cold than ever. At least at the tribe he had some sort of structure over his head to decrease the amount of rain pouring down on his head. Out in the open just to witness a reward challenge was just as enough of a challenge to get through. It got to a point where he would have rather actually participated in it since his mind at least would have been focused on something else.

"Shovel Knight and Sheik have made up the two seconds that were needed and we are neck and neck once again as both teams are working hard on their last number."

As far as the rest of the teams were concerned, a few of them were actually sitting down on their tribe mats with eyes closed out of exhaustion, Bonnie literally down in spite of how wet he was already getting. Four hundred meters was no joke, especially if it came to a race, while pulling on a whole wooden chariot with the weight of one of his teammates.

"Shovel Knight and Sheik have it! Zelda and Greninja have it!"

**Twenty-Two**

**Twenty-Seven**

**Eighteen**

Now both pairs have to turn a circular table around, the triangular holes in the wheel containing pieces of cloth. Yet only one contained a knife that was set to cut a piece of rope in order to drop the team flag.

"It is a big race to see who can release their flag first! _**Major **_reward on the line!"

First the pairs were counting in their heads and to each other as they rotated the wheel clockwise, then they began to rotate it counter-clockwise, before clockwise once more, with all eyes staring at them hoping that they would manage to pull off a win.

"Red team has it! ...Blue team has it!"

In spite of Greninja's leaping towards the table to slice the rope with his knife, Shovel Knight barely beat him by simply a couple milliseconds, the red team's dropping down first.

"_**RED TEAM WINS REWARD!**_"

A major celebration occurred within the team of Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy, Shovel Knight, and Sheik quickly joining them.

"Closet challenge in a _while_." stated the host. "It couldn't get any closer than that!"

Shadow instantly kicked some sand away as Luigi stood up and made his way over to everyone, glad that he was at least finally able to move.

Freddy heaved a major sigh as he stared down, Greninja sighing as well with a head shake as he wrapped his arm around Zelda's shoulder as they both made it over.

"Good job, guys..." Marth clapped out of respect for their efforts. "Everyone did well. That's all that matters."

"Wow." Master Hand was speaking once again. "You guys have proven why every, single, second _counts_ when it comes to the challenges, and this is why. But when it comes to two teams, we can only have one winner. Red team managed to barely beat out the blue team, you all deserve it, but the red team proved to be victorious. You guys are going to witness Sōjutsu in person and then you all would feast. Boat's waiting for you. Head on out."

"Thanks, master." Sheik stated as she, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Knuckles began their walk.

"Shadow, Zelda, Greninja, Freddy, Marth, Luigi, got nothing for ya. You can head back to camp and try to stay dry."

_"I can't believe it!" Sheik smirked and chuckled a bit. "Of all people, I had to compete against **Greninja** in that challenge. And it ended in the closest race I could ever imagine. ...But we won. Naturally I feel sorry for him, since he and Luigi will be the only knights that will remain at camp. But hey, worst case scenario if the emperors are planning on working together again, they can both potentially eavesdrop on whatever conversations they're having with one another."_

* * *

**Congratulations, Daisy (from Super Mario). You are the next castaway revealed for Survivor - Mexico on the Beauty tribe.**

**Like, Shovel Knight from this season, Daisy was already a lock to be on a Survivor season. Smash Ultimate happening just gave me one more reason to add her in. She fits perfectly this season like Ryu on the Brawn tribe, explaining why those two were first choices for the season.**

**But anyway,... let's just get into the questions here.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What do you think of Shadow this chapter?**

**2\. Is a possible blindside in the making at the moment?**

**Vote for your top five favorite characters this season and I will see you all on Wednesday!**


	31. Chapter 31: Day 25 Pt 2 & Day 26 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 31 - Day 25 Part 2 & Day 26 Part 1

**Welcome back to another chapter of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!**

**So right now, we have an interesting situation here. Greninja, Foxy, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, Shadow, Sheik, Freddy, Luigi, and Knuckles are in the majority against Zelda and Marth, though Knuckles, Shadow, Bonnie, Freddy, and Foxy all want to bring Marth and Zelda in to vote out one of the other four after Marth finally played his idol and after Shadow was almost blindsided. And we even have a nice character moment from Shadow himself after the backlashed he received at the last Tribal Council.**

**But now, we're gonna kick things off by basically having the characters realizing that they're in Japan of all places as they celebrate this reward here. (Beauty Tribe name for next season is called Quetzal "ketˈsäl").**

**Yari = Spear. Just so you guys know.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yeah, after all this time Shadow finally got some character development. Though at least his gameplay was basically some sort of buildup to it lol. He's the main villain of the season at this point. Possible returnee perhaps?**

**~KF**

* * *

**Day 25**

* * *

_Knuckles, Sheik, Bonnie, Foxy, Shovel Knight_

-/-

Now it was time for the biggest reward of the season thus far.

_"Now, I almost **never **leave Angel Island due to the position that I'm in." Knuckles reminded. "So my first reward? Excellent! I don't watch Sōjutsu in person everyday, so this is a good once in a lifetime experience. It was worth it."_

Sheik, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Knuckles have all just got off the boat and were being guided by two men wearing outfits that were fit for the Sōjutsu sport, all heading inside a small building where a buffet of food was waiting for them.

"Grab food and then enjoy the show." One of the men spoke in fluent English with a large grin.

_"I mean, it's Japan. What do you expect?" Sheik laughed. "These two men escorted us in this building, and I guess they want us to get food first so that we can eat and watch the Sōjutsu match at the same time. Two birds in one stone? Excellent. I know Greninja is gonna get jealous when I come back, but don't worry. At least I can tell him all about it by the time we come back... but for the buffet part, we all just grabbed at it of course, Knuckles and Bonnie especially since they haven't been on a reward yet."_

Sushi, ramen, and tempura found themselves on everybody's plates before being escorted to a large room where there was already a small audience waiting for a match to commence.

"We're in for a treat today..." said Bonnie, being careful not to drop anything. "We still need to make a second trip for the green tea..."

_"We're in for quite a show today." The ninja continued. "I want us to all enjoy the time we have here, because I don't think we're coming back until tomorrow. But with that being said, that means that we have the rest of the day to startegize. Luckily there is not one emperor here, so we can all just have a friendly open discussion. It's a great time for us to bond together, and as long as we're on the same page, we're good to go. So I wanted to just say a few words and we'll continue our discussion later."_

"Ooh, before this starts, I just wanted to get this out of the way real quick." The only remaining female in the former Knights Tribe spoke in front of the guys. "After this is over, before we head to bed, we need to think about what are we gonna do with those emperors. There's only four left. ...Do we still trust Freddy?"

"Freddy's good." Foxy nodded as he sat down at a table. "I don't think he's flipping back to his old alliance. As for Shadow, based on what happened last time, now he has even more reasons to stay with us. I'd say we vote out Marth next so that way Zelda has no options."

"I agree with Freddy staying. He's not going anywhere." She shook her head, stuffing noodles in her mouth. "I'd say we need to think about Shadow for a bit though, just to be safe."

Knuckles' heart immediately sank.

But then a few minutes later, he actually took his mind off of it temporarily to remain focused on the sōjutsu match. Two men in sōjutsu attire began battling it out, though initially the match was rather slow, teaching the survivors that it takes patience. However suddenly, the man on their right attempted to strike at the chest plate, which was the weak point with the yari. Although he was unsuccessful as his opponent yelled out and knocked the yari away with his own. Though his foe never lost his grip as the two were slowly inching toward the other side of the room.

Almost all of old Chatan's eyes widened out of anticipation as they ate. And then out of nowhere the man on the left took advantage of it all by attempting to strike, yet his yari got blocked off as well, but then the opponent immediately swung afterwards and those two started to battle it out.

"High level fencing..." Bonnie commented with a slight laugh. "I could definitely try this... only I don't have all the gear at home. ...I'll just leave this up to the professionals."

_"Pretty fun match to watch. Spoiler alert: the guy on the right won." The bunny stated. "I said that I was gonna leave it up to them to do the work because I don't know the first thing about japanese spear fighting. It's totally **not** just classic fencing kids practice back at home. However,... it came back to bit me in the butt. They wanted us to try for ourselves... me and my big mouth, hahaha! Not only I was up first, but take **one **guess who I was up against."_

Foxy the 'pirate' fox.

And Foxy the pirate fox sure took the aggressive approach to say the least. He came at Bonnie full force and attempted multiple times to strike early, but Bonnie always fought back and blocked quite a few times, with a couple close calls, ignoring the humorous, friendly laughs from the audience, including the two that just battled, and Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Knuckles.

Though in the end Foxy ended up winning due to Bonnie playing a little bit too defensive.

"You weren't kidding when you said you should let it be to the professionals, weren't you?" Foxy cocked his head to the side with a smirk, though he was kind enough to help up his friend.

_"I mean, oh well I guess, haha. Foxy has always been a good friend of mine, anyway. It didn't take much for us to get along at all, so it was fun sharing this experience with him."_

Shovel Knight and Knuckles were up next. Although unlike previously, in spite of Knuckles being as aggressive as ever, Shovel Knight had a bit more patience and he ended up pulling the win instead, much to the applause of the audience, even the shovel wielder actually taking a bow.

"Good thing I'm _already_ a knight..."

"Ugh..." Knuckles helped himself up. "Alright, Sheik. Who do you wanna fight? Him or Foxy?"

"We can do rock, paper, scissors over it." Foxy suggested.

...

"...Okay, looks like Shovel Knight is going again..."

It was the toughest battle yet, because it seemed back and forth the entire time, also being the longest battle of them all. Yet, the victor turned out to be Shovel Knight once again, raising his yari high in the air.

"Okay, cool..." Sheik got up. "You got a winning streak going... Are we allowed to do more battles?"

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 25**

* * *

Greninja, Zelda, Marth, Freddy, Shadow, and Luigi.

A rather strange combination of players returning to their tribe, yet somebody had to not go on the reward. And the group of six were of course anything but happy.

Yet for Shadow the Hedgehog, he appeared to be the most irritated among everyone else.

_"Not one reward... I can not even go on **one** reward, and there have been people that went on both rewards since we got here. I'm not that terrible in challenges, so I should have got on at least one by now. I don't even care about that Japanese fighting exercise. All I wanted was food, and now I had to undergo two to three more days of hunger..."_

He found Freddy to be just the right person to complain to, though Fazbear was clearly more calm about it.

"I mean, look," He stated talking to the hedgehog individually. "I know you're mad about resorting back to rice and coconut again, because I haven't gone on one reward either, but we have bigger problems to worry about. Every since emperor remaining in the game is here right now, and this is the perfect time for both of us to get over our differences with Marth and Zelda where we need them the most... And I'm afraid that you have to do most of the talking here."

"..."

"...I mean, no offense or anything, but you clearly have taken more heat than I did since the Shulk vote, and last night said it all. We're even already planning on taking one of the opposing four out of the game and we only gotta deal with two of them, so we have way better chances of talking to Marth and Zelda in private."

"...I..." Shadow actually facepalmed. "In real life, I would not even begin to _think_ about facing Marth and Zelda at the moment... Those two think that if I'm not with them, then I'm automatically not trustworthy..."

"..." Freddy blinked. "That's what being untrustworthy means... I turned on them once, you turned on them twice, and you were almost voted out. We just have to get through with them so old Nago can work together again..."

_"Working with Shadow can be quite stressful at times." He shook his head with a slight laugh. "I mean, I just need to make sure Shadow understands that he has to be on the same page with the rest of the old emperors, since all of the knights that made it to the merge are still here, and I think for Shadow, that would be a perfect argument he can use for Marth and Zelda if they somehow wish to work with him again so that all of our butts are saved over here. Shovel Knight and Sheik are away, so we need to take advantage of all the time we have out here at the moment."_

And the hedgehog actually knew that all too well. However, to him, it had to take every ounce of energy and patience he had left in him to even turn around and begin making his way over in search for the swordsman and the Hyrulian.

"Would you at least... accompany me just in case I have to argue?"

"I don't think arguing would be the best strategy, but I'm right behind you."

_"I had to face off against both Shovel Knight and Sheik in that last bit of the challenge today." said Greninja. "And what happens? They both get to go on the reward, and now I'm the only knight here besides Luigi, who's sort of quiet a little bit because he didn't get to go on a reward yet, so I guess I need to keep his head in the game and just wait patiently for the rest of our alliance to come back."_

"You alright?"

He took him aside near the water separating themselves from the rest of the tribe, both of his hands on his shoulders.

The plumber sighed looking away as he took his cap off to scratch his head. "Yeah, I am... Just hope that I'm at least... _taken_ on the next reward or something. I was hoping for a spaghetti reward at first, but any time of reward is on my list of things to do at this point. ...I'm _hungry_..."

"Even though I've been on the last reward, that food can't last forever in my body. Tell you what, if it's an individual reward challenge I'll take you with me. Okay?"

"That sounds good, thank you." Luigi was all over it. "...You know, maybe I shouldn't be bringing up spaghetti at this moment..."

"Why not?" The Pokemon noticed his fellow old Chatan member changing his facial expression for a little bit.

"...I'm thinking about my older brother again..."

At that moment, he immediately understood, putting a friendly hand on his shoulder again. "Just relax. We're nearing the Loved Ones visit. My trainer's coming here too and he's probably on his way right now... Crap, now _I'm _starting to think about my loved one for a little bit... You think taking our minds off of them for just a bit would hurt?"

"I don't think so... What do you think we should do? Marth and Zelda are still in the game. Should we just continue to go down the list?"

"That's just what I was thinking about. Marth's the bigger physical threat here, so he's the easy vote... However,... that sounds a little _too_ easy... That Roy Tribal Council, those three made some pretty valid points about Shadow... Let's see what the others have to say when they get back. We'll just lie low for the rest of the day and talk with these emperors a bit more now that almost our entire alliance is eating good as we speak.

-/-

"Hey... can we talk?"

Marth was off by himself in the woods helping getting coconuts for everybody as he heard Shadow's voice from behind him.

"Sure while we're here..."

"Where's Zelda?" Freddy questioned.

"I'm over here..." The brunette came holding a couple coconuts in head. "We're trying to get as much as we can so that the six of us will have _something _for the night, especially since the sky is still not looking that friendly at the moment..."

"Alright, then..." Freddy began to do his part. "Shadow, you can start whenever you want..."

"Alright..." He folded his arms and eyed the ground at the moment, hoping the Survivor Gods were giving him the strength that he needed so that he could have just enough patience to deal with the situation.

"..." Marth blinked.

"..." Shadow finally eyed the hero of Altea. "Is there any way we can let our differences rest? ...At least for now?"

"...?"

"Okay..." Shadow slowly slid his hand down his face, not completely surprised that no words were escaping from Marth initially. "So two emperors have gone home in a row, and none of the knights seem to be even thinking about turning on one another at the moment. Those seven are sticking together like glue and it's rather irritating to see. If all of them are at the final seven, it would be rather... _embarrassing _to say the least..."

"...Well,..." Lowell finally let some words slip as Zelda wandered closer. "old Chatan does seem to be a rather tight bunch. They're really living up to their name... just like we are..."

"..._Well_,... perhaps we could make a change for once to prove to them that big personalities can mesh together at times where it is most necessary." Shadow stated. "I want one of those knights gone, and I want one of them out _now_. And if we can manage to vote out just the right person, it would be a game changer."

"...Are you _sure_ this time?" Zelda finally added into the conversation. "This discussion about sending one of them to the jury has happened before when we all first merged together, but... you know..."

"I was thinking of my own interests at the time..." Shadow spoke before Freddy could. "But for right now, even though I'm... sort of the reason to why certain members of our old tribe are now gone, it doesn't mean that I'm going to vote out every remaining emperor including Freddy out of the game. That's saying as if I should have been on the knights tribe in the beginning. ...Could us four do something together again?"

Both Marth and Zelda had their eyes locked onto Shadow, almost forgetting that Fazbear was even there.

_"I'm actually quite astonished..." Zelda admitted. "Shadow has actually come to us for once and tells us that the best thing for all of the remaining emperors is to work together and finally send one of the knights home, because he feels it's long overdue even though he admits he's a large part of the reason why the plan for that was put on hold. But the thing that stands out is the fact that he approached us first really means that Shadow has been really thinking about what has happened as of late."_

"I think that while the old Chatan Alliance least expects it, we could all be working together in secret and come at them with full force." Shadow continued. "Not even Roy and Shulk expect us to work together, so if us for can pull it out, work with Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy, than we're all not only in the majority in that alliance, but we're also in the majority for the rest of the game."

"'Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy?'"

"Plot twist: those three are ready to make a move here, because they think that they're all on the bottom of old Chatan, and they want to get rid of one of those four, too." Shadow spilled the beans. "They're willing to work with whoever they need to finally send one of them home. And the best part of all, 4-3, old Nago has the majority. We could easily go final four... that is if you're interested."

"...This is... quite a bit to take in..." Marth Lowell had a million thoughts going through his head, it was rather hard for him to simply choose a few to say directly at Shadow of all people. Though eventually, he came up with something. "...As long as you are willing to officially work with us, your words will not fall on deaf ears as far as I'm concerned..."

"Same here." It was certainly something Zelda was going to think about as well. "Just because old Chatan can be unified does not mean that we can't. And if three of them are ready to flip, that would give us for an advantage in the long run. Are there any specific names that we should consider?"

"It depends on what the others say when they come back." Shadow replied. "Knuckles, Foxy, and Bonnie need as much information from those other knights can get so that they relay everything over here. But what I can say is that Greninja and Sheik have been thought about for a while, we don't know exactly if either Sheik and Shovel Knight have an idol or not, and Luigi... he's just there..."

_"I'm just surprised as Zelda was." Marth had his back against the rock. "I thought that ever since we threw Shadow under the bus at the previous Tribal Council in a last ditch effort to save us three including Roy, I thought that Shadow never wanted to even see our faces again. He literally ignored us all morning. But now all of a sudden, he's approaching us saying that old Nago needs to come back together and fast. Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy are apparently ready to turn, and I don't really think ratting them out told the Knights Alliance would be the best idea in the world, because I doubt that will do anything for my game in the long run, because eventually I'll be back at the bottom once more. ...Though if it's proven that old Nago **can** in fact reunite, that still means I have to trust three more individuals that me and Zelda have never worked with. ...Though if it's meant so that the target is not on myself and Zelda, I'm willing to do whatever it takes..."_

Zelda turned behind to see Freddy retrieving more coconuts. "You're down for it, Freddy?"

"Anything to keep me in the game. That's for sure. We'll continue to talk as much as possible. Just watch out for Greninja and Luigi."

* * *

**Night 25**

* * *

_Knuckles, Sheik, Bonnie, Foxy, Shovel Knight_

-/-

Now it was nighttime, and the five individuals who celebrated their challenge victory that day were now winding down ready to take a sleep. They were all in a rather large room with five different beds being a few feet apart with one another.

_"So at the end of this nice reward we were all escorted to this very large bedroom so that we had somewhere to stay for the night." One could have inferred that Shovel Knight enjoyed it based off the tone of his voice. "It was good because it was storming and everything out there, anyway... Sure, it's rather harsh on the others right now, but they're all strong. They'll make it through. This just means that I'd better enjoy this for as long as I can. Because something like this will **never** happen again... unless I was ever brought back to compete on Survivor. But, that's another topic for another time. Right now it's about time we hit the hay and put an end to a great day twenty-five in Japan! I'm pretty sure everyone else had a marvelous experience as well!"_

"Okay, once my butt is in this bed, it's gonna be hard for me to get out... especially in the morning." Foxy Michaels climbed his way in and almost immediately pulled the covers over himself. "I bet when everyone else watches this on TV will all make them jealous."

"True." Knuckles agreed from his bed sitting up.

"I mean, they're already wanting to hear about it tomorrow, and then they'll have to see this when it airs."

Suddenly one of the doors opened and Bonnie Roberts came out of one of the showers, wearing all white pajamas that were provided to the quintet of castaways.

"Okay, I hope every last person in this room right now gets a good night sleep. There is no reason to why no one should not sleep well tonight."

"Agreed." Knuckles nodded, resorting to lie down on his side. "We don't even get _broken _sleep half the time on that island. We just don't do it unless it's for a couple hours..."

"Well, the only thing we gotta get used to is to actually sleeping in a bed again." Sheik spoke up, being one of the first of the two to hit the sheets since the gentlemen allowed her to go first. "Can't believe it's been over three and a half weeks already..."

_"So we had an open discussion followed up to earlier today before we were about to eat." Knuckles recalled. "Sheik briefly bringing up Shadow is already concerning. But as we were all getting ready for bed,... let's just say it didn't stop there..."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 26**

* * *

_Knuckles, Freddy, Shovel Knight, Shadow, Zelda, Greninja, Foxy, Luigi, Bonnie, Sheik, Marth_

-/-

Early next morning, the five made a safe return to the Bikutā tribe much to the curious six who had to unfortunately suffer through yet another storm during the night. Hardly anyone had a good night's sleep, though at the same time, the moment they found out that the rest of the merged tribe was returning, they just had to come out of the shelter and greet.

And upon doing so, Knuckles ended up near Shadow during the mini conversations that were starting to occur, and he took advantage of it by muttering a few words by his ear in hopes that he picked up what he had put down for him.

"Your name's being considered..."

And the black Mobian's ear picked those words off the ground without a struggle.

* * *

**Day 26**

* * *

At the next immunity challenge, there were eleven different colored, triangular platforms that floated on top of the water.

"Come on in, guys!"

And the tribe of Bikutā entered, each of them having their own personal reason to at least do well in the next challenge of the season, with Foxy having the necklace hanging on his neck, ready to give it up, whether he was wanting to or not.

They all stood on the sand.

"You guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Foxy, I will take back the necklace."

"Can I win it again?" He made his way over to turn around for the necklace to be taken off by the master.

"You could if you want. Win the challenge and it's all yours." The immunity necklace now had the possibility of being in anyone's possession once more. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, it is _another_ endurance test. Out in the water are triangular platforms, and you will have to use the narrow footholds to stand on and remain balanced for as long as you can. At regular intervals, you will then move up to higher footholds making it more difficult. At any point if you fall off, you're out of the challenge. Last person still balancing wins immunity, guaranteeing them a one in ten shot at a million dollars. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the tenth person voted out of Survivor, where they will become the third member of our jury. We'll draw for spots and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. Everybody get up and take your positions..."

From left to right, Shovel Knight, Greninja, Foxy, Marth, Sheik, Knuckles, Bonnie, Zelda, Freddy, Shadow, and Luigi all got up from their previous sitting position on the platform and all place their feet on the lowest foothold, subsequently getting into standing positions.

"Just so we're clear." Master Hand spoke. "Only your feet are allowed to be touching the platform. You can not sit down with your butt, and you can grab the platform with your hands at any point in this challenge unless you are adjusting to a higher platform, which we will do so after the first fifteen minutes. Everybody is in position and this challenge is officially _on_."

As usual, no words were spoken from any of the remaining competitors for Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Literally everyone was simply standing as if the challenge never existed, only that they were in fact doing the challenge due to the fact that they were all staring down at the platforms they were on with their legs slanted.

"Fifteen minutes and we'll all move on to the second round. First time we did this was in Survivor - Caramoan, where it took two and a half hours to declare the winner."

"Oh boy..." Greninja mumbled.

"I don't know if I have enough patience for that..." Shadow muttered under his breath.

"We could be up for a really long time, or for a really short time. Let's see how well you guys will do..."

Greninja closed his eyes in order for his mind to be relaxed if worse did come to worse if the challenge was going to be rather lengthy.

...

_**Elapsed Time: 15 Minutes**_

"Alright." Master Hand knew that it was time for his survivors to make their first adjustment. "We are now at the fifteen minute mark and everybody is safe. You are free to touch the platform as you move onto your next foothold. You have fifteen seconds..."

The castaways immediately grabbed onto the platform and began to make their transition.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1..."

...

There was some struggling, but all members of the Bikutā tribe got the hang of it and remained solid once again.

"...We are _back _on..." The second round of the challenge was officially under way. "We will be here for another fifteen minutes. We're looking good so far, so whatever it is that you're doing that is helping you stay alive in this challenge, it is working. Always stay focused no matter what... Knuckles, how are you feeling? Your toes will have to grip a little more tightly now."

"Doesn't sound or feel right, but I'll get used to it... at least I hope..." He mumbled that last part.

"Get in the zone." He suggested. "Last fifteen more minutes and nobody gets hurt."

"You know what they say..." Marth spoke up. "Easier said than done..."

_**Elapsed Time: 30 Minutes**_

"Alright, everybody. Literally no one is out of the challenge yet, but we're about to make the transition to the final round. This time, I'm gonna allow you _thirty_ seconds to gain control. Your feet will be on that one foothold at the top of the triangle. The countdown starts now. Thirty seconds."

They began to adjust.

"If you fall at this point, you are _out_..."

"...Woah!"

A certain red fox out of nowhere was unfortunately unable to keep his balance and ended up leaping backwards into the water.

"Foxy... winner of the _last_ immunity challenge, is now the first out of _this_ challenge." Master Hand stated. "We have our first casualty."

With a shake of the head out of great disappointment, he swam his way over to the sit out bench.

He was the only shockingly early exit.

"...Freddy, unable to make the transition and he is out!"

"Oh well. At least I don't have to worry about just standing on there like that..."

"Sheik... and Luigi both fall in! And just like that we are now down to _seven_! ...And Knuckles is..."

_**SPLASH!**_

"...no longer in the running. We are down to five, and we have about ten seconds left..."

Shovel Knight was trying his hardest, constantly moving his arms around in attempt to remain in control.

"5... 4..."

His body had a hard time cooperating.

"3..."

"...!"

_**SPLASH!**_

"2... 1... We are back on, and Shovel Knight could not have survived long enough. Out of the challenge."

"I feel like I've fallen off a cliff..." He commented as he swam his way over.

"Greninja... Marth... Bonnie... Zelda... and Shadow, all fighting for immunity to guarantee them at least a couple more days in this game..."

"..."

_**SPLASH!**_

"And Bonnie is now out. Four remain..."

But for Zelda, she just could not have kept her balance to keep going, and off the platform she went.

"Zelda, no shot at immunity."

"Look at Shadow..." Sheik whispered at the hedgehog suddenly wobbling out of nowhere. "...He's done."

And indeed he was.

"Alright, now we're down to two people left in this challenge. One emperor, one knight. It is Greninja versus Marth..."

"Oh Goddesses..." Sheik whispered to herself that time, heart sinking in her chest.

Suddenly Marth started to wobble a bit, but then Greninja began moving his arms, leaning a little too much over to the right. Though then again, Marth was clearly more all over the place than Greninja, in spite of the Pokemon now leaning a little to far too his left.

...

_**SPLASH!**_

_**SPLASH!**_

"Greninja hits the water first!"

"**_MARTH WINS IMMUNITY!_**"

Greninja tried his best to remain in perfect posture, yet he supposed the Survivor Gods preferred the Altean hero to win instead by simply half a second.

A lot of friendly claps were heard as they both swam over to the platform, Master Hand hooking the necklace around the blue-haired castaway.

"Marth Lowell guarantees himself a spot in the final ten. And as for the rest of you, one of you is just about to be the next member of our jury after twenty-six long days of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Marth, it will not be you. Congrats!"

_"I wouldn't say that I was exactly the target for today based off of recent times, but wearing this around my neck just provides me with some extra security to insure that I'm not getting my torch snuffed today." Marth grinned happily. "Me and Zelda have a bit more power now. And so, if we are in fact the swing votes for this Tribal Council, we have to make the right decision that will benefit both our games. It all comes down to trust..."_

* * *

**Very close immunity challenge right here, but Marth managed to pull it out!**

**So we had the reward today, right? For this, unlike the last reward, I really wanted to have something that actually relates to Japan. The whole Sojutsu thing was actually a challenge last season, so this time I decided to have it a reward where people got to see actual professionals doing so before they all spent the night in an actual bed lol.**

**And besides that, we have Shadow finally attempting to make peace with the other emperors. Would Marth and Zelda re-align with him? Who knows. Next chapter isn't here yet lol. But for all we know, Knuckles told Shadow before the challenge that he was being considered thanks to Sheik thinking of voting him out because of Marth and Zelda's case at the last Tribal Council. Hmm...**

**Questions:**

**1\. What'd you think of the reward?**

**2\. What are the chances of Marth and Zelda working with Shadow again?**

**3\. Did Marth really need that immunity, or at this point was it really something extra for him to have?**

**Vote for your top five favorite players this season and I will see you all next time! I encourage everyone to review!**


	32. Chapter 32: Day 26 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 32 - Day 26 Part 2

**Alright, time for another vote chapter and it's basically a battle between the Pirate Crew and the Knights Alliance that the Knights Alliance doesn't even know about, and we have Marth and Zelda being in the middle after being approached by the Pirate Crew to join their alliance, even with Shadow wanting to bury the hatchet with them. Hmm...**

**And then to top it all off, Marth won immunity, so that just eliminates one of the possible targets for tonight, only increasing the chances of Shadow being targeted, so let's see how it works out as usual.**

**(New character reveal for "Survivor - Mexico" tonight! Hint: It's going to be a Pokemon.)**

_**Historyfan15:**_** It'd be rather interesting and they all actually work together again. And as for All Stars, the all star season is going to be Heroes vs Villains. So for this season in particular, Shadow will most likely come back since he's the main villain of this season.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 26**

* * *

_Greninja, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Marth, Freddy, Zelda, Sheik, Bonnie, Shadow, Luigi, Knuckles_

-/-

"Good job, Marth."

"Great work!"

"Thanks, everyone. I don't know how I was able to pull it off, but I'll take it!"

_"Ugh... I feel like I hold some sort of responsibility for today..." Greninja heaved a sigh of guilt. "I couldn't prevent Marth from winning immunity, and now that he has, it just eliminates one target off the board, and now we're down to either Zelda, Shadow, or somehow Freddy... Now, I feel that I'm closer to Zelda than the other two. I still trust Freddy to an extent, so that automatically leaves us with one more option to consider..."_

The entire Knights Alliance were all standing in the water to discuss.

"I kinda feel bad that I couldn't prevent Marth from winning immunity, guys..." The Pokemon admitted.

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that..." Sheik had a finger beneath her chin. "It might not even matter..."

He glanced up to her. "You think so?"

"We were all really thinking about Shadow yesterday on that reward." Shovel Knight brought up. "Marth and Zelda made some pretty valid points about him. He flipped on his alliance not once, but twice. ...And I'd rather not work with people that are untrustworthy. I think they're trying to give us a warning. And if we don't take that, we're all sitting on the jury thanks to Shadow the Hedgehog."

"You think he'd try to work with Marth and Zelda again?" Knuckles asked.

"He... _could_ if he wanted too..." Greninja thought out loud. "I mean, that seems to be sort of his rep at this point. ...Freddy doesn't seem to be that big of a problem even though he's a physical guy. Probably because Marth and Zelda thought that Freddy had valid reasons to turn on them."

"Uh, you guys don't think we should write someone like Zelda instead?" Foxy spoke up. "I mean, I know she's not that big of a physical threat in challenges, but I think that she's a long-term social threat. If we can get rid of Zelda now, we already have the numbers, giving Shadow an even smaller room to work with to decrease his chances of pulling something over us. Even if he somehow gets to the end, he might not get the votes... Zelda's the exact opposite. Maybe we can keep Shadow for at least one more tribal and get rid of the social threat first?"

"I agree that Zelda's more of a social threat. But I think with Shadow, he's more risky to keep around than Zelda is. He's stronger than Zelda and I think he's more likely to find idols. Plus, I think with Shadow gone, we can at least have a breath of fresh air."

_"Sure I would play more aggressively, but I think I'm in a comfortable spot at the moment__, so I doubt is necessary at this time. I'd rather not paint a big target on my back. I'm still solid with Sheik and Shovel Knight, who is still solid on Luigi, and we're all still solid with the rest of our alliance. For my game, basically I'm working with people that are showing that they wanna work with me, and when you have this many people wanting to work with you, that's a good thing. So it's best to find common ground for all of us. The only thing that **can** go wrong is if someone is ready to flip. And if I get that vibe from someone, that means I gotta make sure they go home before I do."_

"Good point there." Sheik immediately nodded. "Let's just write down Shadow."

Foxy's eyes remained staring at the water.

_"I threw Zelda's name out there to give Zelda pretty much a number one reason why she needs to work with us, and to also test my alliance to see what they thought of it. And unsurprisingly, Greninja and Sheik shut it down. I knew it. I mean, even though Freddy stayed last time, those two plus Shovel Knight are always controlling the direction of the Knights Alliance, since they still tested Freddy by telling him to write down Shulk. But this time I was a little ticked to be honest, since I feel like those three plus Luigi never even took that much time out of their day to get to know me, Knuckles, and Bonnie. Nowadays we barely even have a say of how the vote's gonna turn out. That's fine, though. I'm not working with them anymore, anyway."_

And to top that off, all four of the original emperors were watching the seven of them from the shelter.

"And there they go again..." Freddy blinked. "I mean, I for all we know could be target for being the biggest physical threat..."

"I could be targeted for being a strategic threat..."

"I could also be targeted for being a strategic threat..." Shadow crossed his arms at the knights.

"And I could be..." Lowell suddenly paused. "Wait, I'm going to be immune. Nevermind..."

_"Marth and Zelda at this point have gone right back to think that it's still Emperors vs Knights, and that the Knights Alliance are still a strong group of seven." Shadow leaned his back against a tree. "But that's not the truth; the knights are clearly not a strong group of seven. The truth is that me and Fazbear have built connections with three of the knights and we're voting out whoever we want. However, due to the fact that my head is really on the chopping block for this upcoming Tribal Council, it's better to be safe than sorry. Marth and Zelda needed to be approached before the Knights Alliance so that I could really show them how much we needed to work together my game, while at the same time having them thinking we need to work together for 'our' game... Whatever... Bottom line is that I need to make sure I'm not going home."_

"I just wish Knuckles, Foxy, and Bonnie can hurry up and make their way over here so we can discuss the plan for tonight." Shadow turned from the septet of knights to the two emperors he was attempting at rebuilding a connection with. "...You two _are_ in on our seven, right?"

"It seems that we have to..." Marth nodded. "We just need to all get together and talk it out. It is not as if Tribal Council is going to wait for us."

"It makes sense for us to work together, anyway. Because if we do, we all outnumbered those three knights that we're relying on anyway. We can easily just have us make it to the final four, and that would please the jury that the emperors can in fact stick together as long as it's in their best interest."

"Well, I don't think we should all talk right here, because the shelter... is quite literally our home." Marth brought up. "People are gonna be in and out for the rest of the day. We need somewhere more private... I'd say at treemail."

Zelda bobbed up and down. "I think so, too."

"Why not just hang by the water well?" Shadow suggested with a popped invisible eyebrow. "We can easily just convince them that we're going to get water for everybody..."

"Because, I feel that treemail would be the last place they would look, since we're clearly not going to a second challenge today."

"And I disagree..." Shadow barely let him finish his sentence. "I think it's best for them to know where we are exactly, or else they're gonna get suspicious if we're out for a while and nobodies know where we are, and then we're all in trouble."

"Shadow," Marth inhaled. "just think about it for a second."

"Guys," Freddy interrupted with hands out. "can we _not_? Now is not exactly a good time to fight..."

_"Just like I said back on old Nago." Freddy turned his head sideways a couple times. "The emperors are all over the place. It's difficult for us to come to a unanimous decision at times. We're all wanting to dominate the conversation and just refuse to listen to each other while the knights can all decide on something in like, three seconds."_

But eventually, the group decided to have a talk with the three old Chatan members by the tree mail, much to Shadow's slight annoyance, yet he dealt with it in the end.

"Okay,..." Foxy started it off. "_Greninja_. What do you guys think?"

"Well, he has been top three for every single immunity challenge so far." Freddy realized. "He's the biggest physical threat on the board."

"Shovel Knight and Sheik are the two people that are in question in regards to idols." Bonnie reminded the group. "In my opinion, they are both just as threatening. Me, Knuckles, and Foxy have all been with them since day one. Foxy had Shovel, and I had Sheik when we swapped. Sheik appears to be more strategic than Shovel Knight, and we all know she's Greninja's right hand man. She can easily just run this whole game..."

"And on the other hand, everybody likes Shovel Knight. He has a likable personality and tries his hardest to be friends with everyone. And you know what happens when someone like that stays around..."

"I agree with both of those choices." Knuckles nodded. "So if it's gonna be one of those two, I don't care which one of them goes home first, as long as we're all surviving at the end of the night..."

"But what if they actually sense us out?" Freddy thought out loud. "'Cause worst case scenario, they plan an idol correctly and one of us is on the jury. Maybe if the two would figure we're going after one of them we just vote for Greninja just to be safe?"

Marth was trying his hardest to think it through. "This is quite a predicament... I suppose when it comes to blindsides and flashy moves, this is without a doubt the hardest part..."

"I don't think Greninja's that safe enough of an option, either..." Bonnie was hesitant on the Greninja vote. "Sure, he's probably the biggest threat of them all, but I think they're all smart enough to figure that out themselves that we would try to target him... Why don't we just vote for Luigi?"

"What? ...Seriously?" Shadow immediately rejected that idea. "No way... Just... I don't think that's smart... He is _not_ a threat! That would be a horrible move!"

Marth sighed and shook his head. There they went again...

"Look, Shad,..." Bonnie desired to make himself clear. "We know that Luigi isn't exactly the biggest threat of those four, but the thing is, we're all talking about who's going to suspect that they're going to be the target by us if they in fact sniff us out. And what I'm saying is that even though voting for Luigi doesn't sound satisfying on paper by him not being the biggest threat of those four, at the same time, he's the least likely person they'd give an idol to..."

"...Okay, I guess that makes sense to an extent..." Shadow actually took time to think about it. "But I'm not as down on Luigi. I'd still push for us to actually get a threat out first to increase our chances of getting rid of all four of them. The last thing we need is to have one of them go on an immunity run that would screw all _seven_ of our games."

"You know what... I don't know about you guys, but Shadow actually have a point." Knuckles was not as down on the Luigi vote either. "Even though Luigi's the safest target, Shovel Knight literally has the word 'knight' in his name, Greninja's physical, and Sheik's smart. _One _of them has to go."

_"The alliance of seven that me and Marth just became a part of is struggling to find out who's the right person to send home." Zelda summarized. "When you have both emperors and knights in the mix, things can get a little... **complicated**... You know, at this point for my game, it's about who stays, rather than who goes. And if it were up to me, I suppose I can't afford to have Sheik go yet because I have the closest relationship with her than Luigi, Greninja, and Shovel. Though at the same time, if the majority of people want her out at the end of the day, then I guess I just have to deal with it. If they all really need me, I'd rather not actually dictate and tell all of them what to do, because I of course have no intentions on alienating anybody..."_

-/-

"Why is it some empty here?"

"They said that they were all going to gather coconuts for everybody. I had to go to the bathroom so I told them that I'd meet with them shortly." Greninja told Sheik. "They all took their canteens including ours, so I assume that they're out to get water as well. ...I thought you went with them."

"I went off to do some laundry with Luigi over here and Shovel Knight's tending to the fire."

The remaining four all stayed behind at the shelter, Shovel Knight putting yet another piece of wood down.

"Please, Survivor Gods..." He stared up into the sky. "We beg of you to spare us at least _one_ night free of rain over here..."

That actually made the other three knights laugh.

"Well," Shovel himself giggled a bit. "that's what I heard the community calls it, anyway. They're always asking these... 'Survivor Gods' to send help their way in order for them to advance properly in the competition."

"I think we really need to talk to Marth and Zelda, though." Greninja suggested. "To avoid having a distant relationship with the two of them, we'll let them know that we're writing down Shadow just to give them both a break."

"Good idea." Sheik was on board with that plan a hundred percent. "I don't think it would hurt to tell Freddy, too. Everyone else is writing down Shadow, anyway. So Freddy would be too outnumbered to do anything if he wanted to."

"So basically a unanimous vote on Shadow?" Shovel Knight wanted to make sure he understood exactly what the plan was.

"Yep." Greninja confirmed with a nod. "I don't think he has an idol."

"I don't either." Sheik doubted that possibility as well. "Let's just go and look for them."

"Luigi, you coming?"

"No..." He sat on the bamboo of the shelter. "I'll stay here and watch Shovel Knight in case he needs help with the fire. We're about to eat, anyway."

"Suit yourself."

Upon Greninja leaving with Sheik, Shovel Knight took advantage of the situation to have a brief check on his number one ally.

"You doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm okay. This vote seems to be pretty simply and I don't even think I'm being looked at right now, so I'm actually feeling pretty good. ...What are we going to tell Shadow, though?"

"Zelda seems to be the only option." Shovel Knight assumed. "...But I gotta say... I've been with you since the beginning and I have watched you grow. You gained quite a bit of self-confidence throughout the days."

"...You really think so?" Luigi smiled warmly. "Thanks. I guess that's because I found out that I wasn't going to be the first vote off of my tribe, then I made to the swap where I was actually in the majority for once, and now the knights are really up in numbers these days. ...Am I getting a little _too_ confident, though?"

"Oh, no, not at all." The shovel wielder immediately disagreed. "If anything, I would say that feeling confident when it comes to things like this is something that you're not exactly used to that much."

"Oh, I can get confident, but..." He scratched his head for a bit. "I guess sometimes I just gotta get used to things... Does that make sense?"

"I think it makes perfect sense." Shovel Knight bobbed his head up and down understanding. "Sometimes for certain individuals, one has to adjust in order for them to adapt to certain situations."

_"Shovel Knight has taught me many things since I've been out here. He's sort of reminding of Mario from back home and we both ended up on the same tribe. It's a good thing, too. Because as long as he's here and he notices that I'm feeling some type of way, he's always the number one person that's always giving me advice. I don't know if he's going to be targeted eventually. Though if he is, maybe if I have the opportunity to, I'd save him like he saved me, since I really do feel like I owe him something. I have to be useful for somebody."_

-/-

"You alright?"

"I'm fine. You?"

"Well, I think it is safe to say that neither of us are going anywhere tonight... I'm starting to even think at this point, perhaps I did not even need to win the challenge today..."

_"Me and Zelda have just been approached by Greninja and Sheik, and they wanted to inform us that Shadow is in fact the target for tonight, and that they wanted us to help them in voting him out. ...So I guess the plan worked last **somewhat**, but obviously plans are changing as of now."_

Marth and Zelda were standing with each other from behind the shelter.

After a few brief moments of silence, Zelda spoke up again. "Do you think it's even worth it to work with Shadow at this point?"

"I don't know, but I don't blame you for thinking that way. You can not work with people who can't trust... Though at the same time, imagine if we could actually work together again..."

"Valid point there." Zelda slowly nodded. "I guess this is what happens when we're the swing votes..."

"Alright, Tribal Council here we come..."

Knuckles meanwhile was standing with Shadow in front of the shelter, gathering their belongings so that they could being to make their way to tribal.

The echidna looked up from his bag for a bit. "...You okay?"

"...I'm fine..." Shadow seemed to be lost in his thoughts as he now had his bag around his shoulder. "But I think I'll feel even better when I come back here..."

_"I suppose no matter what happens, the person I clearly trust the most is Zelda. So wherever she goes, I go as well."_

Off the group went.

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 26**

* * *

Shadow, Zelda, Foxy, Marth, Shovel Knight, Freddy, Luigi, Bonnie, Marth, Knuckles, Greninja, and Sheik all returned for the tenth Tribal Council of the season, taking their time in places down their torches and sitting down in the seats in front of them.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury..."

Jurors one and two made their way over to the jury bench.

"Shulk... and Roy voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Marth showed a bittersweet smirk in Roy's direction, along with Zelda's smile of sympathy as Roy smiled back, sitting down beside Shulk in the middle of the bench.

Shadow promptly eyed the master ready to discuss.

"So Shadow, at the last Tribal Council, the remaining emperors in the game, including Roy, but except Freddy, all threw you under the bus for not being trustworthy. As a result, we basically had another Tribal Council that had some sort of 'whispering session.' And in the end, even though you weren't voted out, you still received three votes. What was your overall feeling when you got back to camp?"

"Long story short, quite annoyed. I chose to not talk with Marth and Zelda for a while until I had to work with them at the reward challenge."

Roy shook his head slightly.

"Were you doing that just to prove a point?"

"Not necessarily." He answered the master. "If anything, they were lucky enough that I chose not to argue with them, since I figured that it would have wasted my time, and theirs. I wanted to at least get a good night's sleep, so I didn't want to go to bed even more irritated."

"So Marth, last Tribal Council was particularly brutal for Shadow to the point to where he didn't wanna talk to you or Zelda for the next twelve hours or so until you were all put together with Freddy at the next reward challenge. Did you feel like you were being ignored on purpose?"

"Well, the few times I did actually look at Shadow he immediately glanced the other way as if he wanted nothing to do with me, so basically, yes." He admitted. "But I suppose since he stated that it was better than to get into another squabble with him, then perhaps it was the best for all three of us."

"Zelda, what about you?"

She sighed to start it off. "Well,... just to make myself clear, last tribal wasn't meant to hurt Shadow's feeling at all. We basically have different strategies and for the most part our strategies just don't mesh together that well. We're two completely different people, but at the same time, in life you have to deal with all different types of people daily. I wasn't exactly mad that Shadow never said a single word to me after the tribal. So I hope Shadow understands that me and Marth didn't mean to offend him. It was uncertain to whether not it would be Roy or myself since Shadow had an idol, so I was simply fighting at my hardest to stay in the competition."

"So Shadow, Zelda made a pretty good point." Master Hand had to admit. "Sometimes strategies don't mix, and that would describe your relationship with both Marth and Zelda in a nutshell. Do you understand where she's coming from?"

"As long as she understands where I'm coming from, then it really doesn't matter at this point." Shadow sounded as if he never cared less. "Bottom line is that it's a brand new day, and if I make it here tonight, what happened last tribal would become irrelevant."

"Fair enough." Marth replied.

"And Freddy, besides those three, you are the only emperor that is left." Master Hand noted. "Shadow was thrown under the bus last tribal, Marth and Zelda were on the outs, and it seemed like last tribal didn't hurt you at all."

"Well, I guess that's because maybe they don't see me as the 'flip-flopper' or 'Mr. Untrustworthy.' I think it's because they knew that I was a big target at the merge, so that's probably why I got less heat than Shadow, who wasn't targeted at merge."

"Marth, what is your opinion on Freddy at this moment?"

"I think Freddy is a nice bear." Lowell told him. "If jumping ship was his best interest, than I have no reason to blame the guy. He is not going to simply lie around and wait until his time comes. So when he turned, me and Zelda never thought of him as a flip-flopper. We thought of him as someone that desires to be here no matter what it takes, and will do whatever it takes to make it as far as he possibly could."

"I mean, it's not that we're being sore losers or anything." Zelda backed him up. "We understand people's decisions as long as we feel that it makes sense for their own game."

"So based on last tribal, you felt that Shadow's reasons for turning on others is not justified enough."

She was not hesitant in nodding her head. "That's exactly what we were all feeling after Shulk's departure. We tried our hardest to understand where Shadow was coming from, but it just didn't add up. Maybe Shadow had his own plans that we didn't know about at the time, especially since like what was said, me and Shadow are playing two completely different games here."

"I have my game, you have your game. That's pretty much all I have to say."

"I know, that's what I'm trying to say."

...

"Greninja, so far the emperors are the only people that we've talked about. Clearly they were all not at the same page at the first post-merge Tribal Council. Surprised in any way?"

"Not at all." He turned his head side to side. "I mean if this is what happens when they all come together, how they communicate with one another is rather, um... interesting to watch. ...I feel like I'm at home on the couch watching two people trying to settle their differences."

That earned a couple laughs from his fellow castaways.

"I mean," He continued. "this is basically like people trying to put their feud to an end but they still have some issues that need to be worked out. It's happened times before, but of course only this time I'm actually part of it."

"Alright, so there's seven of you, including you, Greninja, that was part of old Chatan. Marth and Zelda clearly weren't on the same page as Shadow after Shulk was voted out, and you admitted that you weren't surprised since it was the emperors' way of handling things since they all think differently. But what about your tribe alliance? All seven of you are still in the game. Are each and every one of you on the same page, even at this stage of the game?"

"How exactly do I put this..." Greninja caused a few moments of silence to strike the Tribal Council, as he was now the center of attention of literally everyone. "Well, basically, we're all seven people. And even though we're still knights, no one thinks the same. Everybody always has his or her own agenda of how they're gonna play the game. However, I think it all comes down to one word: communication."

Shulk and Roy remained watching from the bench.

"We have people that are from typical working environments, and people that were put into situations they had to get out of, and with those similarities, we were all put together on one tribe. We've worked with others before, so we already sort of have this basic idea of how to communicate with one another. So even if we have our differences since no two people are alike, we all still manage to find common ground, and I think it's because of us having similar strategies in a way, based on the name that was given to us on day one. The emperors are living up to their name by all of them doing our own thing, we're more used to being together and finding ways that will work for all of us."

A few of his fellow members of the new tribe glanced around a little.

"_Well put_..." said Master Hand. "Bonnie, Greninja made a very good point about knights in general. You guys are used to working together, and you all worked together to put two emperors on the table for the merge vote, and taking in two of the emperors, Shadow and Freddy, at the same time. How do you think that strategy's working out for you all so far?"

"Pretty good it seems. Freddy was one of the two emperors we brought in to our group." The bunny elaborated. "But the reason why some of us still wrote his name down was simply because we weren't a hundred percent sure if he was telling the truth. We'd only known him for a couple days at the time, and because of what tribe he was on, there was already a perception of him of what he might do. Now I don't know if he had the intention of being perceived a certain way, but at the end of it all, it was what tribe he was put on. So of course we had to be cautious. Otherwise, he could have easily just worked with the rest of the emperors to get one of us out and then we're sitting over there."

The first two jury members watched him point over.

"But after the fact, Freddy did turn out to be pretty truthful, he followed through on what was told of him to do, and he proved that he was willing to work with us."

"So Foxy, what would you all do, if say, one of the knights start behaving like one of the emperors, and they've proven to be _untrustworthy_?"

"Pretty good question, master. I mean, I'm sure we all aren't just gonna sit there and watch that person backstab us and get away with it. If there is word that someone is jumping our ship (no pun intended if you know where I'm getting at)."

"Okay, Pirate Foxy." Sheik laughed as well as a few other Bikutā members.

"Thank you." He said with a smirk. "But if there is word that someone is trying to jump ship, that's a betrayal. And of course us voting that person out and getting their torch snuffed is what happens if we find out that there is a traitor among us. Gotta get rid of the traitors first, you know? Because if a fellow pirate of mine betrays my trust, than that pirate is no use to me anymore."

"Like the words of a Survivor legend once said: 'If you ain't with me, you against me.'"

"My thoughts exactly." The pirate fox made a big nod at that. "Loose lips sink ships, too."

"Luigi, so that means, if it is still Emperors vs Knights at this point, are the emperors basically a sinking ship?"

"Umm..." He took time to think, yet eventually he disagreed. "That is something that I can not say. It's half and half. Shadow and Freddy are on one side of the fence and Zelda and Marth are on the other. It depends on how long we can trust Shadow and Freddy. And as long as they keep proving that they are still open to work with us, then it wouldn't be so hard to work with them. But if it is still Emperors vs Knights, then like Greninja said, they could easily re-connect with one another."

"Umm..." The plumber suddenly stopped to take a glance over at both Freddy and Shadow individually. "Before either of you think of it, this is not saying that we still don't trust you."

Freddy laughed a little. "You're fine, Luigi. I see what you're saying and I don't blame you."

He heaved a small sigh of relief. "Whew, thank you. Just wanted to make sure you both understand where I was getting at."

Master Hand decided to make another comment. "Shadow hasn't said anything, though..."

The green-capped man looked over again. "...You know where I'm getting at... right?"

All eyes were on the hedgehog, who never even eyed him back even though he responded with a nod of assurance. "I understand. Don't worry about it."

"Whew..." He said again, resulting in laughter once again.

"...Alright!" The authority of the show concluded. "I guess if everyone's good with where everybody stands with one another, then I guess everybody's good when I say that it is time to vote. ...Right?"

Every single member of the Bikutā answered 'yes' in multiple ways.

"Alright. Then it is time, to, _vote_. Sheik, you're up."

The ninja rose from his spot and walked past Roy and Shulk to the Tribal Council voting area, Knuckles uncapping the pen and began writing, Bonnie placing his vote in the urn.

Luigi made it back to the group to allow Freddy to stand and begin making his trip over.

"Unfortunately, based on the circumstances, I have no choice but to play the emperor card today. Sorry..."

Foxy was the very next to vote, Greninja and Marth following shortly after.

Shovel Knight placed his vote in the urn, but then he felt that it was not folded properly. Uncapping the urn, he took his vote out and made sure it was folded as perfectly as it possibly could have.

"There we go..." And back into the urn it went.

It was Shadow's turn to state his peace.

"Then it looks like when it comes to me, trust is gonna have to be broken once more..."

Zelda was the last to sit back down.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Master Hand flew off to head to the voting booth himself as castaways waited, Roy briefly whispering to Shulk so that he knew his prediction of who was getting the boot.

"I think _ is going home..."

"We'll see..."

The urn was placed on the table.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

Though this time people wanted to check on a couple others in case they were planning on standing, those same ones decided against it.

For Shovel Knight, however, he remained staring at the hand, making literally no movement whatsoever.

"...Okay."

That made Knuckles widened his eyes a little.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final, person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Shadow's eyes set straight on that urn the moment it was uncapped.

"First vote... Shadow."

"..."

"...Shadow. Two votes Shadow."

Not even a blink. Foxy took a look at some of the other members of his alliance for a brief moment.

"Shadow. Three votes Shadow."

Shulk had his mouth open a bit with a fist beneath his head, Greninja blinking once while Marth never blinked at all.

Knuckles bit his lip.

...

"Luigi."

Luigi Mario immediately lowered his head, Sheik exchanging a confused look with Greninja who hunched his shoulders. Shovel Knight, although confused, remained frozen in place.

"Luigi."

That was when Sheik began to look all over the place, with no look back from hardly anyone.

Roy's mouth slowly lowered.

"Shadow. Four votes Shadow, two votes Luigi."

Shadow remained rather confident as Freddy curled up his lip, Foxy keeping his arms folded and not looking at anyone.

"Luigi. That's three votes Luigi."

Luigi had a similar reaction to Sheik previously. Yet like last time, no one dared to look at him in the face.

"This is crazy..." Roy mumbled from the bench.

"We're tied."

Shovel Knight widened his eyes as Sheik held a hand over her mouth in shock.

"Four votes Luigi, four votes Shadow."

Shadow's eyes remained fixated.

...

"Luigi."

At that moment, Luigi covered his face out of complete distress.

"Five votes Luigi, four votes Shadow."

Shulk had a hand clasped over his mouth as well as Roy just let his dropped jaw be exposed in front of everyone.

Foxy started to form a small smirk of satisfaction with tied up arms.

"Oh, Arceus..." Greninja mumbled under his breath lowering his head a bit.

"Tied again."

!

This time, Shadow the Hedgehog let his mouth hang open as Luigi immediately lifted his head back up. A stunned Knuckles eyed around the tribal as Freddy turned his right to his fellow competitors out of disbelief. Though at the same time, it did not help Greninja, Shovel Knight, and Sheik from being even more surprised.

"Five votes Shadow, five votes Luigi, one vote left."

Marth's head rotated towards Zelda who waited patiently. Greninja shook his head from side to side not knowing what to think.

"Tenth person voted out of Survivor and the third member of our jury..."

...

"Shadow."

He cursed under his breath.

"You need to bring me your torch."

Greninja watched Bonnie hung his head down and facepalmed at his plan that failed, exhaling through his nose, Foxy shaking in disappointment, near a Knuckles that looked a bit ticked.

"I was right, but..." Roy mumbled staring at the castaways that were still in the running. "I didn't expect it to turn out like _this_..."

"Tried to play nice for once to get everybody on the same page, but... hope everyone's satisfied..."

Marth and Zelda watched Shadow placed down his torch.

"Shadow, the tribe has spoken."

_Snuff_.

"..."

"Time for you to go."

With no looking back, the Mobian hedgehog took his time heading down the stairs on his way out of the tribal.

"W-What...?" Luigi quietly whispered to no one in particular, being the most confused he was since the moment he stepped foot on the island.

"I guess I wasn't in the safest position after all..." Greninja muttered to himself.

"Alright, so here's where Bikutā stands in terms of _communication_..." said Master Hand. "Based on the shocked reactions from literally every single one of you including Shadow, maybe all ten of you really need to communicate with each other now to find out where each and every last person stands in regards to relationships. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

"Let the games begin..." Foxy mumbled as he and everybody else got up from their spots to retrieve their torches.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Shadow**

**Marth** **\- Shadow**

**Shadow**** \- Luigi**

**Freddy**** \- ****Luigi**

**Luigi**** \- ****Shadow**

**Sheik**** \- ****Shadow**

**Greninja**** \- ****Shadow**

**Knuckles**** \- ****Luigi**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Shadow**

**Bonnie**** \- ****Luigi**

**Foxy**_** \- **_**Luigi**

_**11th Place: **_**Shadow**

* * *

_"Ugh... I don't even know what to say... I had a feeling that I could be at least getting some votes, but I didn't expect to actually get the majority of the votes... I really feel like if I would survived tonight I would have made it a lot further than eleventh place. ...Though I suppose for the work that I did put in, I feel that I've played an all out game. I just hope that I get a second chance..."_

* * *

_**Castaways Remaining:**_

**Zelda, Marth, Freddy, Luigi, Sheik, Greninja, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Foxy**

_**Jury:**_

**Shulk, Roy, _Shadow_**

* * *

**"Do you think it's even worth it to work with Shadow at this point?"**

**That's probably what did it lol. But dang... Shadow probably could have made it even further if Marth and Zelda chose to side with him again. But I guess the damage has already been done and they'd rather not take the risk of working with him again. Though anyway, it is safe to say that at this point, it's not Emperors vs Knights anymore since there are both emperors and knights on both sides. Oh and by the way, I think this is one of my favorite tribals of this story. Not just because of the outcome, but the discussion about the emperors and knights talking about each other in general of how they act and what has occurred thus far.**

**But dang _again_... Shadow, arguably the main villain of this fic is out! We'll see what he has to say in his Ponderosa chapter where he has to face both Shulk and Roy...**

**And off-topic, but... Incineroar joining Ryu on the Brawn tribe for "Survivor - Mexico!" I feel like Ryu, he is also literally the perfect fit for the tribe. So, why not? Even though Isabelle was the first Smash Ultimate newcomer revealed for Mexico, Incineroar was the first castaway from Ultimate that I considered.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you see this blindside being bigger than Shulk's, or do you think Shulk's blindside was even bigger?**

**2\. What do you make of Marth and Zelda's decision?**

**3\. Just out of curiosity, who's your favorite character from this chapter?**

**4\. Are you personally a fan of Incineroar?**

**Watch my YouTube intro if you haven't already, vote for your top five players on my poll if you haven't already, and I appreciate everyone to review! I'll see you all tomorrow for Shadow's jury chapter for Emperors vs Knights - Ponderosa! I encourage everyone to review!**


	33. Chapter 33: Day 27 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 33 - Day 27 Part 1

***Sighs***

**Okay, the bottom ten placements have been officially determined, and that only means that we have ten more placements to go. Halfway through the adventure here ladies and gentlemen, and it still feels like I've just started to release chapters for this fic yesterday.**

**But anyway, last tribal basically... was everything to say the least. Not only the main villain is out, the remaining three emperors are on opposite sides of the fence still, and the knights are finally officially divided (even though they kinda been divided lol. It's just that the Chatan Four have just realized it.)**

**I don't even know what to say exactly. Each of the ten remaining people left in the game is at least somewhat important here. So we'll see how everyone reacts...**

**Ooh quite a few people reviewed today and now I have two guest reviews to reply:**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yeah, at this point the biggest villain remaining in the game is Foxy of all people. Though based on the fact that he's on the bottom now, worst case scenario is that he could now be a target since he was basically kinda running the show a little bit in secret.**

_**Derick Lindsey: **_**Yeah Luigi was literally one vote away from being completely blilndsided lol. He had no idea at all. Oh I did, didn't I? Lol. When I saw that I changed it immediately so thank you for telling me!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 26**

* * *

_Sheik, Freddy, Foxy, Marth, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Zelda, Bonnie, Greninja, Luigi_

-/-

The seven emperors and three knights returned back to their beach to drop off their torches, heading into the camp one by one. And unlike previous times, they all actually chose to stay together.

...

_"Sort of an... unexpected outcome tonight..." Sheik the ninja was struggling to find words. "Before tribal, we expected a unanimous blindside on Shadow, who still was blindsided. Yet instead, after like two or three votes, here comes Luigi out of nowhere, and his name came up five times. Then in the end, Shadow still ended up being sent to the jury, causing more shocked reactions to occur. ...All I gotta say is like Master Hand said: now we have to communicate with one another... **big time**..."_

"So, uh,..." Of all people, it was Luigi that broke the silence as he nervously ran his gloved fingers through his hair underneath his cap. "which of the five of you put my name down?"

Greninja began pointing at the culprits one by one. "Bonnie, Foxy, Knuckles, and Freddy. I've seen the looks at tribal."

"Me and Zelda voted for Shadow." Marth informed. Though it was important information for the Chatan Four, for them it was not the main problem at the moment.

...

"...Uh,... would any of you care to explain?" Shovel Knight broke yet another awkward silence.

Foxy calmly placed a hand over his face.

_"I don't even know where to start thinking..." said hand was now slowly moving down his face. "Tonight's Tribal Council was supposed to draw a line in the sand on where everyone stood, and it did, yet it didn't work out in our favor. Guess Marth and Zelda realized that they had power and chose to get rid of Shadow over one of the four targets tonight. Now me, Bonnie, and Knuckles are all stuck with Freddy, all being caught like deer in headlights. So then after tribal all of us had to fess up... It was very awkward to say the least because literally every single person besides Marth and Zelda were so in shock nobody knew what to say at all, since this is the first time the Pirate Crew has officially gone against the Chatan Four... And Knuckles? ...He basically decided to take out his anger and frustrations on all of them because Shadow is gone."_

"Alright..." Knuckles eventually had enough with the whole silence issue. He felt that it was best for him to admit the truth once and for all. With a hand out, he was now the center of attention. "I'm gonna say this _right now_..."

Everyone watched.

"Me, Foxy, and Bonnie planned to flip, because we felt that you four were running the show from day one. Greninja and Sheik? This entire time you two have been an all out power couple from the get go, and then Luigi and Shovel Knight joined in so you all can just dictate everything. No offense or anything, but back on our tribe you four have been interacting with each other more than the rest of us. I was clearly the next to go if there wasn't a swap at sixteen, and then who's next? Foxy first, and then you would have saved Bonnie for last."

...

Even Bonnie and Foxy themselves gave surprising reactions. Of course in their minds it was true, yet at the same time they never expected Knuckles to be confrontational like that. Not that it was his intention of course.

"I..." Greninja wanted to be the first to be on the defensive side, yet he struggled for words. "Well..."

Thus, Sheik spoke instead. "Well, we weren't trying to dictate or anything. You all know that we tried to keep the tribe as united as possible because the emperors were gonna try to divide us up."

"Okay, that may have worked in the pre-merge, but it's post-merge now." The echidna barely let Sheik finish her statement. "We were gonna be divided eventually, since I'm not trying to be taken out at seven if the seven stayed strong, and Bonnie and Foxy aren't just gonna ride your coattails either. We all felt that you all cared more about each other than the tribe in general."

Greninja finally found his words. "No, it wasn't like that. We still cared about you three. Our number goal is to have us all getting along with each other and I thought I was getting along with everyone."

"I agree with Greninja." Shovel Knight nodded. "After all, I was the one that liked to bring everyone together for story time. Even when the merge started."

"Well you all could have pretended that we were the most unified tribe in the world for all I know and talked about the three of us behind your backs."

"N-no! That's not what I meant at all!" The warrior rapidly shook his head. "W-What I'm trying to say is-"

"Okay." Knuckles held a hand out once more. "Let's get this straight right now. Cloud left first, and then Rouge left afterwards. Say if there was no tribe swap, and if we went to tribal again, who would have gone?"

...

"_Exactly_."

"Well, Knuckles, you would not have known if that was the case or not because the fact of the matter is that we _didn't_ have to go together because there _was _a tribe swap..." Sheik spoke up again.

"All I gotta say is that you and Greninja got lucky with the Pac-Man vote..."

Bonnie widened his eyes.

"Yeah, because we all thought it was the right move to make."

"And it was." The bunny began to speak. "Because honestly, if I didn't help you all vote out Pac-Man or Zelda, _all_ of us would have been on the bottom and the emperors would have started picking us off one by one and we all would have gone against each other even earlier than we wanted to."

"And I'm glad you understood that." said Sheik. "But the bottom line is that you three can think what you wanna think, but at least we all stayed together for as long as possible. Things may clearly be different now, but at least prior to this we all came to some form of agreement."

"And slowly but surely," Knuckles butted back in. "every time we all voted together, that democracy started to turn more into a dictatorship."

_"Knuckles was **not** happy." Greninja sat by a rock in the dark. "I didn't expect him to lash out against us at all... Me and Sheik have been tight with Shovel Knight and Luigi, which was in course true. Not gonna lie about that. But at least us four tried our best in working with him, Bonnie, and Foxy for as long as we can so we can make sure that the emperors never divided us up. Though everyone had their different relationships and everything, my number one goal was to always keep us close together no matter what happens, and I thought Knuckles would at least understood that. ...I guess the line has officially been drawn, I suppose... All I gotta say is that if it weren't for Marth and Zelda apparently, I don't think Luigi would be here right now..."_

A few minutes afterwards, the argument slowed down and came to a stop, with everyone finally being separated, Shovel Knight and Sheik chose to check in with Marth and Zelda.

"So you two were the ones that saved us tonight?" Shovel Knight questioned.

"Why'd they write down Luigi, though?" asked Sheik.

"Luigi was the safe vote option for tonight." Her fellow Hyrulian began to elaborate. "They thought that since either you or Shovel had the idol, they wanted to get either of you out. But then Greninja was thought to be the biggest physical threat at that point. Yet, they all decided to go with Luigi because they figured that if you two, Greninja, and Luigi would have sensed that something odd was going on, then Luigi would have been the safest option for them since they thought that he was the least likely person you'd give the idol to."

_"Me and Marth had a decision to make tonight. We went from the bottom to the position that we are in now. Although, getting rid of one of the Chatan Four seemed to be a good opportunity, we were thinking about long term here. And before tribal, we decided that in the long run, Shadow would have been more likely to flip on us than those four given his reputation in this game. So Shadow was the sole reason to why we didn't want to work with his alliance. And luckily for the both of us, he was the one who was sent home."_

"...Well this is certainly news to me..." said Shovel Knight. "No wonder they didn't want Freddy to go home. It wasn't about earning trust with Freddy. It was about keeping him in so that they could vote out whoever was in _their_ best interest. They knew Shadow was in danger, so that's why they chose to strike against us."

"You know, at the end of the day though, Luigi is still here, and it could have been one of us that would have received votes tonight as well." Sheik looked at the brunette in the eyes. "Thank you, Zelda."

She smiled in reaction. "You're welcome. Just be sure to thank Marth as well."

"I will." She nodded. "We'll talk more later."

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 27**

* * *

The following morning, there were only a few clouds in the sky on Kodai Island. And the members of the Bikutā tribe seemed to be wanting to take advantage of the sunshine while they could have due to the amount of rain there was since the start of the game.

Thus, Knuckles was putting the fishing gear to good use. Obviously being on Survivor, fish was breakfast was completely irrelevant. Everyone was well aware of the rule. Eat all the food they could have when they could have, or they would have starved. Sure, there still was the proportioned rice, but when it rained for days on end, if one was not going on all the reward challenges, something different had to occur once in a while in regards to taste.

The only issue was that there was a possibility of a reward challenge occurring at some point during that day, and a couple of Knuckles' fellow castaways informed him of that chance, yet he wanted to go anyway.

However, his reality was that he desired to get some time alone. Using the fishing excuse was great for him so that no one had to worry about him searching for possible hidden immunity idols.

And so, from the sky's point of view, there the echidna was searching for food in the East China Sea.

_"After Shadow got blindsided last night, I felt like I needed to be on a tribe of one last night. I mean, not trying to sound like I'm anti-sociable or anything, but this is basically a perfect opportunity for me to cool off and kinda clear my mind for a little bit. ...Guess I've spent so much time on Angel Island alone I had to basically force myself to become used to being alone anyway, so why not?"_

His head popped above sea level for a few moments.

"Man, are all the fish still asleep or something?"

_"Shadow was my main ally in the game, he saved me twice and I saved him once, no doubt we were taking each other to the end in our Hidden Five alliance. So seeing him out of the game basically screwed up my chances of making it there. Now I'm back to square one. The one opportunity we had to strike against Chatan Four and Marth and Zelda decided against it. I'm kinda ticked at them, but all of the Chatan Four are still here, and that's where I'm mad at the most since they were always running the show. ...I mean I gotta think of something at this point, because the three knights that **thought** that were at the bottom are **clearly** at the bottom now..."_

At the camp itself, Bonnie was seen observing him with Greninja.

"...Wouldn't it make more sense to do that say if he lost today's challenge?" Bonnie thought out loud. "I mean, at this point we're most likely having _something_..."

"I thought the same, to be honest." Greninja laughed in reaction shaking his head slightly. "Zelda and Sheik tried telling him that, but Knuckles insisted anyway. I think he's only doing it because he wants to be alone."

"Guess he's still mad over last night." Roberts concluded, before shifting his head to face Greninja in the eyes. "Speaking of which,... sorry about how awkward it was last night. I mean, the tribe was just..."

"Well,..." The Pokemon shrugged. "the Knights Alliance is clearly broken up at this point, but don't think it means that I like you and Foxy any less. We still started together, and no matter what happens, at least we're both still here on day twenty-seven. We may go against each other now, but at the end of the day, it's all just a game, no matter what the reward is."

_"Knuckles was heated last night because our plan didn't work. And during his argument with the Chatan Four,... he kinda put me on the spot a little reminding them that I basically could have flipped on them at the Pac-Man vote and I chose not to saving both of them. ...But I literally came to them saying that Zelda was strategizing wanting to get me to flip and vote Greninja out to show them that I was gonna remain loyal so those two wouldn't have been on edge as far as trusting me. I was trying to play both sides of the fence for as long as I could have. Sure I had the opportunity to flip, but..." Bonnie outstretched his arms for emphasis. "look at would have happened."_

"Yeah, you're right. I have no hard feelings against you, Sheik, Luigi, _or_ Shovel Knight. I'm _pretty_ sure there's a good chance that we all could remain as friends outside of the game. Nothing is gonna change just because we're in different alliances."

"Absolutely." Greninja nodded in agreement. "Thanks for understanding."

"I really appreciate that." He outstretched his arms once again, Greninja receiving the signal as the two shared a friendly embraced, exchanging somewhat of a humorous laugh afterwards. "Maybe I'll take us all out for pizza later before this season starts to air on television."

_"I don't know what my fate is since it is in the hands of the Chatan Four plus Marth and Zelda as of now, but my plan still is to remain as under the radar as possible. Since if we are gonna get picked off one by one and if those six don't end up splitting, then hopefully I at least won't be seen as an aggressive player so I would be targeted last. Maybe a few last minute immunity runs would do it, or maybe the six would actually split up someday. Who knows? But either way, as long as I continue to be friends with everyone and not tick anyone off, then I'm doing okay."_

* * *

**Day 27**

* * *

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's reward challenge?" The black merged tribe was ready to get to it. "Okay, so here's how this is going to work. For today's challenge, you will be using your _feet_ only."

He received a mixture of questionable, confounded, and even somewhat humorous stares from the remaining Survivor contestants.

"On my go, you will release a rope that will drop blocks in a bin. You will then stack those blocks in a circle and place a flag in the center. First person to finish, wins the reward. Wanna know what you're playing for?"

"Yeah."

"Yep!"

"Why not?"

"Tell us, master."

"Well, I don't think we've had a 'massage' type of reward in a while..."

Literally the entire cast stood there stunned.

"The winner will head out to a good ol' fashioned Survivor spa." He stated much to the big reaction from his castaways. "First you will dive into a feast of cheeseburgers and french fries. Then, you will have nice shower before your body will receive its first break after twenty-seven days."

By far it was one of the biggest rewards of the season.

"We'll draw for spots and we'll get started."

"Oh, I'm _definitely_ winning this thing..." Knuckles mumbled to himself.

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For reward. Survivors ready? Go!"

The starting objective for the castaways to complete was that they needed to unwind the rope near them with one foot to release the puzzle pieces needed to complete the tower. There were three rows to complete which were simple: top, middle, bottom. Of course, one difference is that in order to successfully build it, they clearly needed to do the exact opposite. And also, with hands, a small tower like the one they had to build would have normally been done less than a minute. Yet with their feet? Maybe at least three times as many as opposed to one, if in fact nothing ever went wrong for certain castaways.

"Everybody has released their blocks and now they are starting to make the bottom row. There's a circular table by your feet that you can turn around as you make your first circle." Master Hand informed. "Trust me. It will help you a _lot_."

Foxy, Greninja, Sheik, Knuckles, Bonnie, and Freddy are all making quick work of this while everyone else is taking their time. No rush it all, especially since one of the six that are currently in the lead can easily slip up. But right now it's not likely since everyone is only working on row one..."

Eventually Greninja ended up being in first place as his first row was nearly being completed. Yet Knuckles was right on his tail, followed by Freddy and Sheik.

"Greninja's now working on the second row. He's the one to beat in spite of literally having less toes than everyone else..."

"Impressive right?" The purple anthropomorphic creature commented, not taking his eyes off his work.

"...Indeed." The master 'nodded' with honesty. "...Knuckles and Freddy working on the second section! Sheik and Bonnie working on the second section! Foxy right behind, Luigi and Shovel Knight trying to keep up, while Marth and Zelda are simply trying to stay in it, yet they both seem calm..."

Though by the time some of the players reached the second section, everyone but Knuckles chose to take it a bit slower than before, guaranteeing him the lead at that point.

"Knuckles all of a sudden leading the pack and he's not messing around at all! ...Luigi all of a sudden getting a good rhythm going. It's still anyone's challenge to win!"

Bonnie desired to work more quickly, too. However, he made a grave mistake as his foot slipped and accidentally kicked one of the pieces of the bottom row. "...!"

"Bonnie... _loses_ almost his entire stack!"

He cursed under his breath with a huge shake of the head. Now he had to work even faster, especially since at that point he was immediately in last place.

"Knuckles is now nearly done with his second section! Greninja still slowing down a bit. Sheik, Luigi, Freddy, and Foxy are now the runner-ups in this challenge!"

Dozens of seconds later, Knuckles's second section was now completed. Two down, one more to go.

Although, the consequences of rushing to get the challenge done nimbly caught up to him. The moment he swung over his first block for his final layer of pieces, he accidentally knocked over one of the pieces of the second row off to the side.

"Knuckles messes up! Now you gotta put that other piece back and fix up your tower! That opens a door for everybody else that was right behind him, including Greninja who's catching up again!"

He was certainly more ticked than Bonnie.

"It is Sheik, Freddy, and Foxy with the biggest shot right now. Greninja and Luigi are right behind. Can they catch back up?"

The former three were already putting the finishing touches on the top row. Though with Foxy, he began finding it rather difficult getting one of his final pieces to stick, giving the lead away to Sheik and Freddy.

"Sheik and Freddy are almost done with this challenge, just to give everyone a heads up! ...And Knuckles is playing more aggressive than ever now... and it doesn't work at _all_!"

Lo and behold, like Bonnie Roberts, Knuckles the Echidna's entire tower came crashing down on the ground. There were really little to no words to be expressed. However, his challenge performance that day without a doubt is the answer to why people often use the popular quote, 'Slow and steady wins the race.'

"Sheik has placed all her pieces! _Freddy_ has placed all of his pieces! Now they are both going for the flag!" The host of the show shouted. "You gotta get it up and over that top row and place it down in the small hole in the center! Who's gonna do it first?"

As they both ended up being neck and neck for the flag portion of the challenge, Freddy had a harder time getting it over, while Sheik never found it actually getting in the hole to be as easy as she anticipated, as she was instead sliding her flag all over the place and anywhere but the hole itself.

"Here comes Foxy!"

Though, because of Sheik struggling longer than the bear, the pizza manager was the one who pulled off the victory as he calmly managed to place his purple flag in.

"_**FREDDY WINS REWARD!**_"

Although most of his tribemates clapped, Knuckles kicked the few pieces that managed to be placed back down for his tower out of anger. Poor guy. Things just could not have gone his way that day.

"Alright, Freddy." Master Hand motioned him to come his way. "Come on over."

As he did so, a hand was placed on his shoulder.

"Now, clearly we have nine other people left, and I'm pretty sure you would hate to see all these players who you are living with have to eat... 'the usual' at camp once again, while you are probably going to have the time of your life."

He immediately nodded at the sight of seeing them. Some were smiling, yet Fazbear knew very well that on the inside, they wanted what he was going to get, which was of course natural due to the whole food situation on Survivor.

"I can choose one person right?"

"Choose _one_ person."

"...Luigi."

"Alright, Luigi. Come on over."

The somewhat surprised Mario brother happily made his way over to the bear as a few cheers were heard from the crowd.

Just to make himself clear, Freddy felt as if he needed to explain his reasoning. "This is mainly because besides me, he's the only one that hasn't been on a reward, and he did pretty well in the challenge today even though he didn't win."

"Freddy even if I don't get picked I wouldn't be mad at you at all." Greninja shook his head. "Everybody needs to eat at some point."

"Okay, Freddy. Choose another person."

"...Marth."

"Okay. Marth come on over."

"Nice!" Lowell grinned as he met with the other to reward goers.

"...Do I get to choose one more?" Fazbear glanced at his master.

"You can if you want to."

"Oh, alright then." He chuckled a little. "...Foxy."

He actually seemed somewhat surprised. Yet he still had no problems making his way over. "Guess I need a burger myself. I'm all over it."

"Okay, Freddy. I could send you and your tribemates out,... but I'm gonna let you choose _one_, _more_, _person_..."

Without uttering a word, he eyed the remaining members of his tribe one by one, well aware of the fact that after the last person was picked, the other half of the tribe were to be immediately sent back to camp with nothing. He knew he had to make a choice, and he had to do so rather carefully.

"..._Sheik_."

"...Are you serious?" She blinked somewhat in disbelief.

"I sure am."

"Oh my goddesses, thanks!"

She nimbly made his way over to the other four. Although there were some claps, there were some questionable faces on certain castaways.

"Alright, Freddy. You, Luigi, Foxy, and Sheik are all going to a nice spa reward and food will be waiting for you. You guys can head on out and enjoy." He dismissed them as they all exited the challenge area, already discussing what was to come.

Knuckles looked at all of them with pure jealousy and annoyance.

"Knuckles, Greninja, Zelda, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, got nothing for ya. Head on back to camp."

_"Alright." The echidna took a deep breath, his back leaning against a rock near the beach. "I can understand Freddy taking Luigi and Marth. Even Foxy. But other than him, Sheik of all people? Those two have been on every freaking reward! I mean, I might have messed up but I still worked my butt off of that challenge. Now Sheik is gonna be fueled up which will increase her chances of winning the next immunity challenge. ...Well on the bright side, at least **someone** from my alliance is going back to camp with me. We **really** need to have a talk because I clearly don't wanna go home."_

* * *

**Congratulations, Knuckles. You've shown people how to ruin your social game lol. Comparing Bonnie to Knuckles's reaction to being blindsided basically explains how to handle things not going your way in Survivor in a nutshell. Knuckles could have at least saved his anger for his confessionals and his confessionals only, and now Chatan Four has another reason to why they made the right decision to get rid of Shadow over Marth/Zelda.**

**But other than that, the challenge was... interesting to say the least lol.**

**Question:**

**1\. Because of Knuckles's behavior this chapter, do you feel that Chatan Four is going to be more provoked on getting him out, or would the target be on someone else in the Pirate Crew? If so, who exactly?**

**Vote on your top five players this season and I encourage everyone to review! See ya on Saturday!**


	34. Chapter 34: Day 27 Pt 2 & Day 28 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 34 - Day 27 Part 2 & Day 28 Part 1

**Time to get to the next reward of the season. I'm surprised I didn't have a spa reward last season, but I think now's the perfect time to do it so we'll start off with that first and then we're going to check in with the castaways that stayed behind until we get to the immunity challenge.**

**Oh, one quick announcement. Another brain member for the season is going to be revealed at the end of the chapter so stay tuned!**

_**Historyfan15:**_** That is certainly a possibility. Of the remaining remembers of Pirate Crew, Knux could be the easy vote because of his attitude. So Foxy might be lucky here depending on how the other alliance wants to vote.**

**~KF**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 27**

* * *

_Knuckles, Greninja, Zelda, Bonnie, Shovel Knight_

-/-

Half of the Bikutā tribe unfortunately had no right to join Freddy's party for the reward, unlike Foxy, Luigi, Sheik, and Marth. Although, with an early inference, one would have already been aware of who was ticked most of all.

Thus, Bonnie, Zelda, Greninja, and Shovel Knight from the shelter all eyed Knuckles in the water with the scuba gear, Bonnie shaking his head a grin while Greninja simply folded his arms in reaction as Zelda heaved a long sigh.

_"Zelda and Sheik this morning were trying to tell Knuckles that there was basically no point in wasting your energy for fishing since there was of course the possibility of him losing the reward today." Greninja recalled. "In their opinion, which I do agree with, it would have been in his best interest to simply wait and see because if he lost, then at least he wouldn't have had to worry about using any more energy than he had to since he now has the rest of the day to get something. And now look what happened. He lost. And guess what? Now he's **right** back out there fishing. Most likely he's only this uptight about fishing is because of things not going the way he planned it last night. But for some reason this whole fishing thing on how it turned out it's actually making me laugh, hahaha!"_

-/-

A little while later after Knuckles got out of the water, he finally decided to speak with Bonnie Roberts personally.

"Alright..." The bunny actually spoke first as the two were at least safe enough of a distance away from the other three who were still at the shelter. "We gotta do something..."

"Why, thank you Captain Mobius..." He rolled his eyes.

"..."

"...?"

"..."

"..._What_?"

"..." Roberts began to snicker. "You do realize the expression is, 'Thank you, Captain _Obvious_', right? I don't live on Mobius."

"...Oh, my bad..." The other anthropomorphic animal facepalmed himself. "Guess I need to go out more, even though I kinda have a bit obligation to do back at home."

"I understand." He nodded.

"But what are we gonna do, though?" Due to his alliance's plan falling to pieces, Knuckles clearly had no plans on giving up so easily. "I mean, I kinda don't understand Freddy's decision when he had to choose people to go with him. Like, even though I messed up, I worked my tail off in that challenge. He should have just picked the rest of us since everyone knows we're aligned anyway. But instead he took not only Luigi and Sheik, but Marth as well. Not only does that fuel Sheik and Luigi up, but also, Sheik has been on every freakin' award so far and here I am kicking my butt out there in the water... I can't believe that Greninja man. He has two toes on each foot and he _still_ did well in the challenge. Is there any challenge that he _can't_ do?"

Ignoring the whole fish thing again, Bonnie was more focused on defending Freddy's choices. "I bet Freddy's just trying to keep his connections in check which I understand. He probably didn't want to alienate everyone who does not have long-term plans with him."

"...Alright I guess I get that... What are we gonna do, man? We're outnumbered 6-4 and Chatan Four didn't even expect to suddenly work with Marth and Zelda in the first place! Freddy for all we know could be the first victim since he's the biggest physical threat... even more than me, I guess..."

"We'll think of something..." Bonnie really wished he had something big in mind of what he would do for his alliance, yet sometimes in Survivor, there was something that was usually called 'bad luck.' "For now, let's hope that we can find an idol or advantage or something... Marth already played one at twelve..."

"I don't know, man..." He slowly shook his head in response hanging it down. "Maybe there is an advantage right under our noses, but I don't know about idols at this point. Two people have them from Chatan and Motobu… You don't have one, do you?"

"I don't, but you can search my bag if you want."

"Nah!" He actually chuckled a little. "As long as you say something like that, then you probably don't have one. Neither of us have went to exile, anyway."

-/-

"Psst! Shovel!"

The knight turned to find Greninja whispering over to him at the camp.

"...Is she asleep?"

Since he was closer to Zelda, Shovel Knight took a glance behind him to find the Hyrulian napping in the hammock. Her head was slightly turned, making it rather difficult for Greninja to tell from his spot on the 'bed'.

With assurance, he bobbed his head up and down, making him smirk lightly.

"Let's talk for a minute. Come on." He said as his fellow former Chatan member quietly and carefully making his over to him hardly making a sound. "Dude... _last night_..."

"I never realized that we were in trouble. They all did a great job not leaking anything over to us..." Shovel Knight was still just as astonished. "That was very flabbergasting indeed. I mean, we all could have been on the _bottom_ if it weren't for Marth and Zelda. Poor Luigi was one vote away from being sent to the jury..."

"There is no doubt that Zelda and Marth knew about what was gonna happened. Knuckles, Bonnie, Foxy, and Freddy all wanted to do something with Shadow, those five approached Marth and Zelda and then they all of a sudden decided to go against them, which means that those were swing votes and we didn't even know it..."

"Well, first they were at the bottom, and then they found themselves in a position of power. I know that these kind of situations happened before in Survivor." The warrior told him. "Funny how that all plays out at times."

"Can't agree more. But you know what, after what happened, it really gives us a wake up call. Because if anything, I think that this is only gonna make us four stronger than ever."

"You think so?"

"I actually do think so." He nodded confidently. "Clearly when it comes to the game, us four trust each other the most. I'm not saying that it very well could happen, but it'd be nice if we were all at the final four."

"That would be rather pleasing to see. Not gonna lie..."

"We just need to bond with Marth and Zelda more than ever before now. They saved all of us so we're gonna do our best to eliminate those four. ...Who do you think?"

"...I'd say Freddy first... You?"

"I would like to vote Freddy out, especially after that we've learned the truth..." The Pokémon somehow did not seem a hundred percent on board with the plan even though he knew how physical Fazbear was. After all, he literally just won a challenge. Immunity or not. "...I'm just... Do you know about idol paranoia?"

"Hmm?"

"When you have this simple plan on voting someone out yet you're paranoid that the person might have an idol that will mess up everything?"

"Oh..."

"Yeah, I'm gonna keep helping you expand your Survivor vocabulary." He joked with a snicker. "But anyway, I'd _really_ like Freddy to go. However,... okay, last tribal. Luigi even in their eyes was not the biggest threat. It's a low chance that he wins fifty immunity challenges and he doesn't have an idol. They probably thought that me, you, and Sheik were much bigger threats, yet Luigi was targeted instead."

"Why, though?"

"...Because... he was probably their safe vote." Greninja figured. "They wanted to play it safe just in case we actually found out what was gonna happen and pretend that we weren't going to be suspicious to what was going on. They probably figured that he was the least likely to have an idol, and that's what they did. ...Maybe we should do the same thing..."

"Okay..." Shovel seemed to be getting on with it. "So,... who would be _our_ safe vote?"

"...I'd say... maybe _Bonnie_? ...But then again, those guys are smart. They would easily figure our plan out if someone over there really has an idol. Somebody has it from the Motobu beach and Roy is already out, so that leaves Freddy."

"Oh dear..."

"Oh dear is _right_..."

_"We can't vote Freddy out because he probably is gonna play an idol for the next Tribal Council, but then we can't even vote Bonnie out because they might sniff through our plan and Freddy could play an idol on **him**..." Greninja knew that he was going to have to work a lot harder to make sure his plan goes through. "See, this is why Survivor is rather difficult to play..."_

"Let's just go with the secondary target... Wanna just get Knuckles out of here? I feel like his behavior is gonna get worse, _on top_ of possibly winning challenges..."

_"You know, I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to strategizing. That doesn't mean that I plain don't care about it because if I'm going to be the Sole Survivor, you have to strategize at least a little bit, but for me, I'll admit that I don't always think outside the box. However, at least I have close allies and friends that can help me with it in this game. Me, Greninja, Sheik, and Luigi have been successful so far, especially that all four of us are officially in the top ten. ...But then again, Sheik and Greninja have been proven to be the more apparent duo for their strategy versus me and Luigi. Thus, if this alliance is going to get blindsided, since I feel that our opponents are rather focused on the strategic and physical players, hopefully at least I won't be the target for the next tribal. That being said, other than myself, I am most happy with Luigi both for his own game and my game in particular. He's clearly my number one ally. So if there's anyone in this game that I am for sure will make sure he stays for the final three, it is him... even though I still hope to be the Sole Survivor by just... being Shovel Knight basically, hahaha! ...I don't know if anything I said even makes any sort of sense..." He lowered his heads re-thinking of his choice of words._

* * *

**Day 27**

* * *

_Sheik, Foxy, Luigi, Marth, Freddy_

-/-

None of the aforementioned characters were even thinking of fishing back at the camp. Who needed to fish when they all literally had cheeseburgers and french-fries right in front of them? Even if Knuckles the Echidna would have won the challenge, fishing would have still been a wasted effort since he would not have had to worry about the chore for the rest of the day.

Luigi was diving himself into the food, acknowledging the fact that there was someone he needed to give thanks to knowing he never asked to be part of the reward in the first place. "Thank you Freddy for taking me here. My first reward!"

"Well, this is my first reward too, so it was only the right thing to do in my opinion." Fazbear replied to him between bites. "I don't think it's simply right to have you be voted out of the game at this point knowing that you haven't been on one thus far. You had one more chance than Shadow after all."

_"Knuckles didn't look the most satisfied when it came to who I picked for the reward. But I mean, Luigi has not been on a single reward so far other than myself. Foxy is my number one ally, I want to rebuild my connection with Marth, and Sheik got picked because I didn't want to alienate the Chatan Four. Sometimes when it comes to jury votes you just gotta please everybody. Last thing you wanna do is to alienate people on the jury just because you're not always on the same page as them. So I grabbed my ally, grabbed someone who hasn't been on a reward yet, someone from my old tribe, and even someone who was never in my alliance. And that just about pleases everybody. Quadruple win, right?"_

"Once again, never the food I'm quite used to back in Altea, but at this point, I'm willing to give anything a chance." Marth eyed his burger for a couple seconds before taking a bite.

"Likewise." commented Sheik.

"It's fast food, basically." Freddy shrugged. "Just be careful not too eat so much of it where I come from."

_"Though the main consequence of this is now I need to sneak around Sheik and Luigi to have private conversations with Foxy on what we're gonna do, because clearly there's no point in aligning with anyone from Chatan Four. However, me and Marth never had any problems with each other on our old tribe. He and Zelda were the ones thinking that it's still Emperors vs Knights, knights lead 7-4, especially after those two helped to vote off literally another emperor last night. So depending on how Marth thinks, if I can continue push the old Nago narrative out there as if it was really my alliance's intention all along, maybe he can convince himself and Zelda to join my side again... Of course that was never the Hidden Five Alliance's true intention in the first place, but hey, I don't wanna go home, and once again I feel like I'm next on the chopping block... So if this doesn't work, then I guess I have to win immunity at this point..."_

But for now for the group, it was time to get a shower and a massage. Once the five of them were done showering, it was straight to the massage tables they all went, where they were all getting back rubs from some of the female locals of the country.

Luigi was certainly not afraid to keep his sighs of relief and relaxation to himself. That was for sure.

"...Okay..." Freddy could not have blamed him as the lady that was working on him was rubbing his upper back. "I'm not gonna lie. This feels nice..."

"Certainly rather be here than camp..." Foxy just had to agree with his head resting in his arms as the women massaging him was working on his feet at the moment.

"Same here." Sheik commented. "I mean you know, we may all be on separate pages now, but at least no matter which one of us is going next time, we all have made the top ten of this game. Literally half the people that started with us are out and seven of them didn't even make the jury. And knowing that it's hard to be on the show alone, I'd say we've just made a major accomplishment here. So, let's just enjoy ourselves out here while it lasts."

Her fellow tribe members unanimously agreed.

_"Survivor has continued to surprise me." Marth Lowell could not have been happier. "The reward was absolutely marvelous. I do not know how they feel for certain, but in the back of my mind I assume that it takes a lot out of those women to massage five strangers with the conditions that we are in, including bugs eating us alive half the time, as well as constants cuts and bruises from camp life,... yet they still do it with seemingly no hesitation. ...Were they trained to appear that way or something? But anyway, I am grateful for Freddy Fazbear to take me here, in spite of me ending up working against him last night. ...Maybe it's how this social game works out here..."_

After their massages, the five of them were wearing traditional Japanese robes, and Lowell and Fazbear found themselves in a private conversation following the latter pulling the former to the side.

"Alright, so..." Before he could even state three words, he already pulled a hand over his face laughing a little. "I'm sorry, I just feel like we've had this kinda conversation before."

The blue-haired swordsman smirked in reaction. "We have in fact."

"Now, I'm not gonna say much because I don't wanna force my strategy onto you, so the first thing I'd like to say is that the reason to why I brought you on here is that... I haven't forgotten about you and Zelda. Okay?"

He nodded in understanding, still with his smile remaining. "I appreciate you for that. With rewards like these, I am learning many different things. Best to enjoy the full Survivor experience, you know?"

"I agree." He bobbed up and down in agreement. "So as far as strategy goes, I'm only gonna say one thing and one thing only. Those knights have more, we have less. Like, all of the knights are still here. All seven of them... and against _three_ original Nago members now. And even though the odds are low for all three of us to be in the final three at this point, it's not impossible at all for at least one of us to take one of the final three spots. As much as the emperors are used to backstabbing each other, the knights are supposed to be the underdogs here. But guess who are the underdogs now..."

"...I... Okay..." That was when Marth's smile had dropped for a bit. "No meaning to be rude or anything, but two of us are sort of not on the bottom of Bikutā anymore..."

"I understand." Freddy knew that he was going to point that out. "But even though I'm at the bottom, it is just like how you and Zelda can be at the bottom of _your_ new alliance. Don't get me wrong, but I know that almost certainly those Chatan Four didn't ask either of you to do anything, and you two saved their lives. You can go ahead and tell Zelda everything if you want, but just keep that in mind and think about it for a minute."

"Alright, I have no problems with that." Marth sighed in reaction, rotating his head to stare at the water. "No matter what happens your words will not fall on deaf ears..."

_"Though Freddy might have some valid points, I feel that he's mostly telling me this just to save himself." He expressed his thoughts on the matter. "This whole Emperors vs Knights thing is slowly becoming more and more irrelevant as each tribal passes. Me, Zelda, Roy, and Shulk all thought that it was still Emperors vs Knights, but then he and Shadow went around and backstabbed Shulk, and then helped vote out Roy. So I do find it to be rather odd that the moment when me and Zelda wrote down one of our own, Freddy tells me that it's still Emperors vs Knights somehow, so this is probably giving me a warning that Freddy is simply fighting for his life because he knows that as far as my new alliance is concerned, that he's the biggest threat. But only for physical reasons. Though, we don't want him winning the rest of the immunity challenges. So unless something is changing at the camp, maybe it's good that Freddy won that reward, because these could be his final days out here on the island. However, just to make sure I secure my new position in the game, it is probably me and Zelda's best interest to interact with the four original Chatan members and bond with them so that we know for sure that we're chosen the right side here."_

* * *

**Day 28**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The top ten Survivor contestants all made it out to the challenge area with different expressions of anticipation as their master eyed them one by one, standing on the black merged tribe mat facing forward.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Marth, give it up."

"Fun while it lasted, I suppose..." Lowell admitted as he made his way over to Master Hand to give up the one thing keeping him a hundred percent safe at Tribal Council.

"Once again, immunity is back up for grabs." The immunity necklace was now back on the post where it belonged. "For today's challenge, each of you have a hundred and fifty wooden tiles. You will use those tiles to build a house of cards ten feet tall. First person that reaches ten feet, wins immunity, guaranteeing a one in nine shot at a million dollars. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the eleventh person voted out of Survivor and will become the fourth member of our jury. We'll draw for spots, and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity and a guaranteed spot at the final nine. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**__"_

Good thing there was a marked, ten-foot pole nearby so that the castaways always knew how tall exactly their house of cards were. It was a classic challenge for Survivor that have been part of the show multiple times, even altered for a couple seasons. Yet for Emperors vs Knights, it was simply back to basics. Simply making a ten foot stack of cards twice their size in hopes that it would never collapsed to give the person next to them a chance for the immunity necklace.

"Just keep this in mind: you can build your house of cards in any way you want. You just make sure your strategy _works _and pay off. Don't worry about the person next to you as if you're taking an exam at school."

Basically, patience was key when it came to the challenge. It was something that some people lacked, though, with Knuckles the Echidna being an obvious example for obvious reasons. If he rushed the last challenge, imagine him performing in a challenge such as stacking cards on top of one another like trying to line up a series of dominoes without messing up.

By the looks of things so far, one knew that he was trying to get it done as fast as he possibly could. He thought that just a couple blocks standing up vertically another tile lying flat on top of them would be enough. However, one of the most important things when it came to the challenge was building a sturdy base to decrease the chances of the stack collapsing. Yet somehow, Knuckles never really caught that.

As a result, in spite of him leading the pack, his stack quickly fell at about two and a half feet.

"Knuckles's stack collapses. That's why sometimes slow and steady wins the race!"

Knuckles rolled his eyes.

"Now it's Greninja in the lead followed by Shovel Knight... and Bonnie! Freddy and Marth right behind!"

Literally every other castaway was using some sort of strategy to make sure they had a sturdy base to ensure its safety. Foxy just had a bunch of cards stacked up in the middle lying sideways, followed by cards laid on top. Marth on the other hand seemed to make an entire 'box' of cards at the bottom, having no intention of letting his stack collapse at all.

"Shovel Knight approaching _three _feet. Greninja and Bonnie are still right on his tail. Freddy and Marth are barely past two feet now. Everybody else trying to stay in it."

Zelda was the one trailing behind. However, perhaps in the end, it could have gave her a massive advantage. She knew very well that slow and steady sometimes won the race. Though short-term things were not exactly working out for her, at the very least, she knew what she was doing.

"Luigi doing a nice job. Zelda not rushing at all. Knuckles quickly becoming desperate. Sheik and Foxy not rushing. Everybody else that is leading has the potential to win, if they can just hope that Shovel Knight and Greninja do something wrong..."

But, nope. Both of them had strategies that were paying off very well. They never rushed, yet at the same time they knew that there could only be one winner for the next Tribal Council.

Bonnie was in third place at the time, yet he suddenly slowed down a little when he realized his stack was wobbling by the time he made it to the five foot mark. Knowing that it obviously meant trouble, he simply just stood on the step stool that was provided for the survivors since it was already a little high, it was rather hard to make adjustments. All the bunny could do was simply hope that the worse never came to worse. Just a couple light touches would have done the trick.

However, Foxy nearby was unable to see danger in his pile, and his four foot stack collapsed at least halfway, the fox immediately cursing under his breath.

"Foxy loses half of his pile. Gotta rebuild."

As a result, that ended up just being enough for Zelda to past.

"Sheik at six feet. Bonnie now at six feet. Shovel Knight nearing eight feet. Greninja at seven and a half feet. Everybody else, you _still_ have a chance if the front runners mess up. ...But both Shovel Knight and Greninja have been doing very well so far and they are almost at the top."

"Oh, no, no, no! …Ugh..."

"Sheik stack collapses... _Knuckles's_ stack collapses for a second time!"

"Aw, _come on_!"

"Greninja nearing eight and a half feet! Shovel Knight just past nine feet... He just needs a few cards and he'll be done!"

"...Oh man... _Now_ what?"

"Bonnie apparently has ran out of cards... Now he has to go all the way to the bottom of his stacks and use some of those, without letting his entire stack fall to the ground... That's only gonna give Shovel and Greninja just enough room. And Shovel Knight is _seconds_ away from winning this challenge!"

With him deciding to make some sort of 'house' for his last couple of cards, he immediately pulled his hands away as Master Hand counted down just to make sure the stack was never going to wobble.

"3... 2... 1..."

"_**SHOVEL KNIGHT WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

"YES!"

Leaping down from the stepping stool, he almost instantly raced over to Master Hand, obviously very excited to get a chance to wear the individual immunity necklace in the game.

Greninja simply shook his head rather gradually as he stepped down, not even bothering to finish his work.

"You really look like you wanted it!"

"Indeed I have!" He grinned. "I'm clearly not the most physical guy out here, so when it comes to challenges like these, I knew that I had a bigger chance and now I can finally wear something that matters most when it comes to this phase of the game. ...Uh..."

He actually took a moment to eye the other nine competitors. "I'm sorry if I sound too... cocky and egotistical..."

Almost everyone around him paid him a laugh.

"Shovel Knight, you never won immunity yet. This is your moment!" Sheik grinned at him. "I've already won a challenge so you have every right to celebrate!"

"Oh, well thanks!"

"Alright, so Shovel Knight has a one in nine shot at winning this game." Master Hand confirmed it officially. "As for the rest of you, after nearly thirty days on the show, somebody has to go and get their torch snuffed tonight. You have the afternoon to figure out who's it gonna be. Shovel, it will not be you. Congrats."

"Thank you, master. I appreciate it." He kindly shook the host's hand.

_"I don't even know how exactly we're even more at a disadvantage due to Shovel Knight winning immunity. I just don't want to be on the bottom anymore." Foxy laughed a little. "I mean I know I'm laughing, but when your fate is controlled by other people, it's not the best feeling in the world. Sometimes when people are at the bottom of Survivor, there's not much they can do. ...So I guess I'll just explore the limited options I have and I will do everything within my power to fight for myself and the people around me that I need to stay. I'd rather be voted out by dying trying than being voted out by not trying at all."_

* * *

**Alright, so with Shovel Knight winning immunity (with an idol), on one side of the coin, Chatan Four was able to keep immunity away from the Pirate Crew. Yet on the other, the Pirate Crew now even has less options to work with. And right now, Knuckles seems to be the target. He's a physical player, but even though he flopped at the last two challenges, it seems that to avoid one of Chatan Four getting blindsided, he's the safer option for them. And also, people are generally growing tired of him lol.**

**...Guess what? Speaking of Sonic characters, Espio the Chameleon is going to be on the brain tribe for Survivor - Mexico! I was originally planning on going with another Sonic character, but Espio as a character is kinda underrated in the Sonic fandom, and I thought he'd fit the tribe well so I'm giving him a shot.**

**Question:**

**1\. What did you guys think of the spa reward?**

**2\. Which alliance would get their way at the next Tribal Council and what is the percent chance of that?**

**Vote for your top five characters this season (Shadow and Krystal) are tied for first, and I will see you all next time! I encourage everyone to review!**


	35. Chapter 35: Day 28 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 35 - Day 28 Part 2

**Welcome back to Survivor! Today, you know what's coming. We're about to have our fourth member of the jury and it seems to be a battle between the alliances after the line was finally drawn last tribal! We have Chatan Four + Marth and Zelda versus the Pirate Crew.**

**And also, at this point, starting next chapter I'm going to reveal a character every chapter until all eighteen castaways are revealed for Survivor - Mexico based on how many chapters that are left for this story.**

**But we'll focus on this for right now. Let's see which alliance will win this...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yeah, the cards aren't exactly in their favor at the moment, but fortunately Survivor has proven time and time again that nothing is impossible.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 28**

* * *

"Good job, Shovel Knight!"

"Your stack never fell _once_!"

"You and Greninja had it in the bag, man."

_"I had to facer off again Shovel Knight again in a challenge,... but for real this time." Greninja the Pokémon laughed. "We were leading the pack the entire time, but I was never able to catch up with him, because risking your stack falling to the ground is not going to help anything in the long run. But, Shovel turned out to be the winner today, and I'm happy for him. So, we're all gonna let him have his moment."_

The shovel wielder all of a sudden felt a hand on his shoulder from the water-type himself. "Congrats. This is your day, man. You deserve it."

"Thank you."

"No prob. Just... pretend it's like your birthday or something." He made the people around him chuckle. "Of course you wouldn't want to be voted off on you're own birthday, so just... be yourself and have a good time with conditions like these."

"I'll do my best. I really appreciate it."

_"Feel really fresh to win this immunity necklace! Still part of this great adventure, and now I can cross me winning the individual immunity necklace off the list so I can tell Shield Knight all about it when I return home... unless I make the Loved Ones visit. Hopefully I **can** make it to the Loved Ones visit. I mean, I'd very like it if I'm able to bring her out here. She told me that she didn't know about actually applying for the show, but maybe this would change her mind so that she would actually go for it. This will show here that nothing is impossible..." All of a sudden he began to struggle holding back tears. "And if I can somehow not only get her out here, but also win this game,... I... it will be everything..."_

As the group of ten began to separate minutes after they arrived at the shelter, Luigi and Shovel Knight decided to find a separate spot on the beach to talk, with Zelda making her way over as well.

"I wasn't even paying attention to how you were doing of course." Shovel chortled. "How did you do?"

"I mean, I did alright, I'm suppose." Luigi chortled with him scratching his uncapped head with his bare fingers. "At least my stack never fell. Knuckles's stack fell twice."

"Yeah, I heard." He nodded in agreement. "Geez... He's really been on the radar the last couple days. Hasn't he?"

"He's still upset that things didn't work out for him last tribal..."

At that point, the brunette completed her journey to the two original Chatan members. "Alright, I do not mean to interrupt..."

"Oh, worry not." Shovel Knight shook his head, already knowing what was going to come up. "Go ahead..."

"Alright, let's make this quick before anyone else beside our alliance gets here." After a brief head turn for her own safety, she nimbly rotated her head back around. "..._Knuckles_?"

"That seems to be the plan still. We do not have enough room to split votes, so Knuckles is going to be our play for this evening... Hopefully after tonight, there will be less tension here."

"Alright, then." She nodded. "I'll go remind Marth so that you guys would not have to worry about looking for him to talk privately with all day."

By the time Zelda left, Luigi faced Shovel Knight one last time.

"...So today is Knuckles, done. Right?"

"Don't worry. I'll make sure you aren't going anywhere, because I'm not going anywhere. Once we get rid of Knuckles, _then _ we will have enough room to split votes next time."

_"I still can't believe that I almost got blindsided last time." Luigi of course could not have let that thought go just yet. "One more vote, I would have been eating all the spaghetti at Ponderosa right now. ...Well, I do like spaghetti, but even though being voted out is the only way I can get to it, of course I am not gonna just vote myself out of the game or anything. I'm trying to make it as far as I can. So since it was a close call last time, I suppose what goes around comes back around. I was apparently the 'safe vote' to the other alliance, so now I guess it's time for us to do the same thing... Sort of..."_

-/-

"...And there goes Marth with Sheik and Greninja getting water..."

"Yeah, it's pretty clear that no one wants to work with us..."

Freddy and Bonnie turned out to be the only two remaining at the shelter, the former eyeing the latter cooking the rice over the fire.

"Maybe a full stomach can change their minds since I'm the one that's cooking today."

Though Freddy actually laughed at Bonnie's joke, it was a clear attempt for Bonnie to humor the unfortunate situation they were in. "Though that would be cool, they seem to have already made their message clear..."

_"I won't even be surprised if people think that I have an idol at this point." Fazbear relaxed his back against a rock watching the waves crash on the shore. "Roy's already gone, so I'm the only emperor that was on Motobu, so for old Nago members, there's literally no other option here. That leaves me with two options. I could either A, get it over with and let them flush the idol by me playing it on whoever might get the votes so that I'm not paranoid anymore no matter what, or B, don't play anything at all, guaranteeing one of my allies going home without anything being played on them... including myself... And I need not one, but **two **people to flip. Marth and Zelda are the only two choices, but after the reward, I'm getting a vibe that Marth has no plans on working with me even though I'm the only emperor in my alliance these days, which means that he's going to tell Zelda everything I said, so that I'll be in even more hot water than ever before... Suddenly option A is turning out to be the better choice."_

-/-

Getting closer to the time to where the castaways had to leave for the Tribal Council, Marth managed to find some much needed time alone with Zelda.

"...How comfortable are you?"

"Hmm... I think I'm in a rather comfortable position... which is quite relieving to say given my history in the game." Zelda answered Marth. "However,... I am curious to know what you think. Everyone knows that even though we're the two who are the most likely to stay, we're both being looked at by literally everyone. So as long as you're here, then I'm safe."

_"After nearly thirty days in this game, I can say for the first time in the competition, I do not feel as if I am in a desperate situation." She said. "I was a target since the first Tribal Council, and then I became a crucial swing vote. It was up to me and Marth to make a decision, and even though we were considering on actually working with Shadow, despite him seemingly actually thinking twice about his decisions, in the end, we felt that in the long run, working with Shadow the Hedgehog... might not have been our best ally moving forward. To both me and Marth, he's the definition of a wildcard. One minute he's with you, next he's not. And unfortunately, as much as I may hate to say it, it is rather difficult to trust someone who is unpredictable as Shadow. For all we know, he could have been simply pretending that we're his allies long-term, when near the end of the game, he could suddenly turn on us again last minute. This is simply what happens when you work with people you don't think you can trust."_

Marth meanwhile, was wandering in the forest with his canteen when he ran into Luigi Mario.

"Oh, hello Luigi. Didn't see you there. Zelda just informed me that the plan was still set on Knuckles for tonight. Is that the case?"

"Yes." He nodded. "He's one of the people from the enemy alliance that they don't expect for an idol to be played on with Freddy and Foxy in a way. ...And I'm _really_ starting to believe that Freddy has an idol. That being said, our best play is to flush it out so that everyone here is safe."

"Right." By that logic, Marth could not have agreed more. "...Just one question, though. So the six of us are going to the final six, am I correct."

"Well, I in particular have no plans on turning on anyone before we get to the six... unless someone happens of course."

"Hmm..." Marth was suddenly thinking a bit more in his mind, allowing silence to step in for a few moments. "Do you really think we'll make it to six?"

"Depends on all the right moves that we need to make."

Now there was the main question that Marth desired to ask. "...So in your opinion, what do you think will happen once we get to six?"

"..."

_ "You know, even though me and Zelda are a duo out here, I feel like we are at the bottom no matter what alliance we are a part of." Marth had to admit. "We already turned on Shadow because he was not exactly trustworthy enough,... but that doesn't mean that we just don't trust everyone else in that alliance. ...But then again I don't know if I can really trust... Chatan Four (as their called) either... But they're called Chatan Four for obvious reasons. You simply count one, two, three, four, all original Chatan members. And I am afraid that me and Zelda have old Nago blood... So naturally, without a doubt, there's a possibility that Luigi, Greninja, Shovel Knight, and Sheik, are all going to go all the way as far as I'm concerned, and me and Zelda just get picked off one by one..."_

"Well,... I guess nothing is ever certain until we all meet our common goal over here." was all Luigi could say, in spite of now having ten million thoughts flowing through his mind.

That made Luigi giggle slightly, slowly stroking his hand down his face. "That is what Shulk told me that people always say. ...I mean, not that I do not have any faith in your or anything. Don't get me wrong..."

"Oh no, we're still on the same page." The Mario brother immediately shook his head.

"I mean, I guess I can not blame you given your position, since coming into the merge I was not in the best position, anyway. ...Let us predict then. Who do you think is number six? Any of you four, or me and Zelda?"

"..."

"...?"

With even more silence rising Marth's concerns, Luigi finally managed to come up with a few words for his response. "The best I can tell you is that we will make sure we get to six, and then we can go from there."

_"Obviously, Luigi is not making me feel any better when it comes to my new alliance..."_

-/-

Lowell managed to find Zelda once again, Tribal Council time coming closer than ever.

"Excuse me, Zelda, but I am afraid I might have to borrow your time for a minute..."

"Oh, you're not interrupting me, Marth. Anything new?"

He prepared his words with a deep sigh. "Well, I've just had a small conversation with Luigi a little while ago, and I've asked him basically of where me and you stood in the alliance... since we're clearly the only two emperors in that alliance."

"That I am well aware of." Zelda was already bobbing her head up and down. "I mean Marth, we both know the consequences no matter what side we took. But I really think that aligning with Shadow of all people is far more dangerous than aligning with any of the knights. At least with the old Chatan members, they were never known for flipping and blindsiding others as much as Shadow."

"Valid point, indeed." Marth nodded in reaction. "I just... I mean, I understand what you say,... but Shadow is not even here anymore. Freddy's an emperor and he clearly isn't jumping ship again. ...Do you just think that it's possible to work with him again?"

"...I..." Now it was the Hyrulian's turn to sigh. "I really like Freddy, Marth. I really do. But, as long as we're in different alliances, I unfortunately don't see myself working with him again. We... we're not exactly on the same side of the fence..."

He blinked once. "Alright, so long story short, you don't think we should switch sides..."

"...I simply do no think so in my opinion, Marth." She slowly turned her head side to side.

"...I understand." The Altean hero was staring at the ground at that point. "I guess as long as the both of us are still in the game, that's all that matters right?"

She smiled warmly. "Well, without a doubt we do see eye to eye with that."

"Let me just check in with Freddy. He's been rather quiet today and I want to make sure he is not in a rather... depressed state of mind or anything if you know what I mean."

_"Zelda clearly has no intentions on flipping... which does not help anything at all. I was trying to remind her that even though voting out Shadow was in our best interest, we still have more problems to deal with in regards to the Chatan Four. None of them I've known before the merge. Not one. Zelda herself did not know about half of them before we all merged here. And on top of that, Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy all felt like they would have been on the bottom of Chatan at different points, so naturally, those four are as tight as ever. I highly doubt me and Zelda are at least making it to four. Making it to six sounds nice, but I doubt Zelda realizes that one of us will **be** number six. Yet Zelda still wants to stick with them, even though I think Freddy is more trustworthy than any of Chatan Four. And it limits my options because if I don't have Zelda with me, then we're both in trouble..."_

He was now with Freddy.

"Just so you know that whatever happens, the fact that all seven knights that made it to the merge are still in this competition right now, I am well aware of that. Just so you know."

Though Freddy grinned, Fazbear was clearly worried deep inside his mind. "Well, I guess this is what happens when ten emperors are going at each other's throats..."

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 28**

* * *

The top half of the Survivor contestants all arrived at the Tribal Council area with their torches in hand, doing the usual routine before they each sat down in the seats before them.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury..."

Like the saying went: three was plenty. And in this case scenario, three jury members signaled that at that point in the game, the jury was really starting to build up. If one never thought of such, then it was certain to grow larger soon as each Tribal Council passed.

"Shulk, Roy, and Shadow voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Upon his name being called, the anthropomorphic hedgehog simply shot a normal glance at the remaining competitors with no real emotion standing out from his face. He never appeared to be mind, yet at the same time, he never appeared to be happy to be on the jury either. Yet it seemed he finally got over it and was now just there to do his job: simply observe and gather information with the other jury members. The hedgehog of course had to vote for somebody at the final tribal.

Knuckles was already shaking his head in annoyance as he glanced at the master.

"Alright, so last Tribal Council, I finished the discussion off with the word, 'communication.'" The white-gloved hand recalled. "And _clearly_, judging by the reactions of everyone, there was so clear communication that needed to occur. Luigi, apparently _your _name was one of the two that was written down, but you're the one that's still here."

Shadow blinked with folded arms.

"I'll let you go first and explain to me what was the reaction when you guys returned to camp."

"Oh, okay. Well, after we got back to camp, I was trying to figure out who wrote my name down... Um..." He laughed nervously at the memory of Master Hand reading his name for the first time since his first tribal. "...Kind of nerve wracking to say the least."

Bonnie nearly chuckled at his laugh even though he was guilty. In fact, more guilty than anyone since the Luigi vote was one hundred percent his idea.

"But besides Shadow, apparently the people that went after me were..." He began with the finger pointing. "Bonnie, Foxy, Freddy, and Knuckles. Everybody else put Shadow's name, and that last vote saved my life."

"Last _two _votes." Marth reminded him.

"Oh yeah, right."

"Marth, what do you mean by last _two_ votes?" Master Hand asked.

"You see, at the merge, Shulk and Roy got eliminated one after the other." He pointed to the jury with his whole hand. "There was nobody else I had to rely on but Zelda, so we were the only two that were on the bottom against nine other tribe members. But then suddenly, we were approached by this, um... _Hidden Five_ alliance."

Now all of Chatan Four was dead focused on Marth.

"Shadow told me that all the emperors needed to work together to get rid of a knight, since there are no knights on the jury yet. Bonnie, Foxy, and Knuckles have apparently been ready to flip for a while, and so to them, last tribal was the perfect time for them to do that. Chatan Four, Greninja, Luigi, Sheik, and Shovel Knight, all wanted to write down Shadow, leaving me and Zelda in the middle. But in the end, we chose to vote out Shadow because we both thought that he was just not trusting enough."

Finally Shadow showed so emotion by greatly rolling his eyes as if he wanted them to pop out of his own head.

"Okay, so I guess I'll speak to Zelda." The master decided. "Zelda, like Marth said, you also were apparently in the middle, so I figure that besides him, you're probably the one with the most unbiased opinion. So you two decided to go one way, and as a result, it is safe to say that a line was probably drawn in the sand. What do exactly make of that?"

"Well, there is in fact quite a bit to say." She started. "Of course the alliance we went against was not satisfied since the plan was to vote out Luigi for safety, basically. They were uncertain of who had the idol. But as far as for everyone that was originally a knight in this game, let's just say that original Chatan are officially at opposite ends. Out of the people that we turned on, Knuckles was the most vocal."

"Okay, so _Knuckles,_ care to take it from here?"

As all eyes were on him, the echidna surprisingly decided against it. "..._Nah_, not this way."

This caused a few confounded eyebrows to be raised.

"What I'm _gonna_ do, is that we're all are gonna hear what someone from Chatan Four has to say, and _then_ I'll talk. How about that?"

Aside from the couple smirks of laughter, everyone of 'Chatan Four was looking in quite a few directions, Sheik shaking her head while Greninja exhaled through his seemingly invisible nose.

"..._Well_," Master Hand held a hand out. "however you wanna do it. _So_, apparently Chatan Four consists of Sheik, Luigi, Greninja, and Shovel Knight. ...Let's go with Greninja on this one. Care to take it from here?"

"Alright, let me explain." He nodded his head. "Right after we found out that Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy all this time were never really on the same page as the rest of us and how they were working together on the low to get one of us out, Knuckles confronted us, called me and Sheik a 'power couple', called Luigi and Shovel Knight a power couple, and how we all formed a tight alliance of four to dictate things back on old Chatan, provoking them to get rid of us."

"..." Knuckles actually blinked a couple times. "Well, I initially expected you to try and exaggerate or something, but I suppose you were pretty spot on."

The Pokémon in return made no comment.

"_Now_ I'm gonna talk. You see master, you know about modern Survivor. People have finally come to realize that in every alliance somebody's on the top, and somebody's on the bottom. No matter how hard those four tried to make it seem like we were all one happy tribe going to make it to final seven, there were three of us that were never part of the final plan. We all know there are not seven spots available at day thirty-nine. But for some reason, they really thought that we were stupid enough to actually believe that it was gonna be the seven for the whole way."

"Knuckles, it is not that we all thought that you were all stupid." Sheik stepped in, shaking her head to disagree with his comments. "We were all just wanting to work together with you three for as long as possible to get people out of the game that satisfy our common goal. I know that there are only three spots at the end. But what we didn't expect is that the knights were gonna be broken up this early in the merge at the Shadow vote."

"And to back up what Sheik is trying to say," now Greninja finally decided to reply. "everyone that was all part of old Chatan, including Cloud, Rouge, and Krystal, were all well aware of what we were trying to accomplish as a tribe. Harmony and bonding was the number one priority, one hundred percent. We thought that if we all didn't work together as a tribe, things would have took a turn for the worst and we would have been even more dysfunctional, rather than remaining as a unit... or basically the old Emperors tribe..."

He gave a brief look to Zelda. "No offense..."

"None taken..."

"Alright, so before we continue on with the main discussion, I just want to get this question out the way." Master Hand seemed to be directing his comments to the Chatan Four directly. "Is your relationship with Knuckles on the rocks?"

"Well,... not on the best of terms." Sheik responded with a small smile with a hint of sarcasm. "That is probably the nicest way I can put it."

Knuckles had nothing to say.

If Master Hand would have smirked just at that moment, he certainly would have. "Remember what I talked about last tribal?"

"Communication." said Greninja.

"Well,... _there ya go_."

Shulk slightly chuckled to himself from the bench.

"And I feel like me, Sheik, Luigi, and Shovel Knight _tried_ our hardest to communicate with Knuckles, Bonnie, and Foxy properly, but Knuckles just felt as if we were trying to dictate everybody. I mean, I just wanted to make myself clear when I say that if we were trying to dictate the tribe, it was never my, or anyone from this 'Chatan Four Alliance's intention. I figured we were all just doing our part to stay unified to be the other tribe."

"But I think the thing is," Bonnie started to talk. "okay, I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone or call anyone out. I just wanna say that as a tribe, we without a doubt did a great job by keeping the Chatan family together for as long as we could. The knights are thought to be the underdogs in situations like this, and how we all prepared for that to happen if _we_ were the ones that would have been at the bottom at merge. And the fact that we outnumbered the emperors at that point was amazing for all of our games. No matter how many different agendas there were, not all tribes care about tribe unification and harmony, so I believe that we all should be proud of ourselves by how far we have come."

And every single member of the old Chatan tribe agreed in some sort of way.

"But it's safe to say at this point, whether we all like it or not, we believed that it was simply time for us to part ways and... _clearly_ things didn't exactly work out in our favor," The bunny referenced the previous tribal once again. "but basically when it came to us, we felt that we weren't exactly included in the final plan with you four. Sheik and Greninja were perceived to be a tight pair just as much as Luigi and Shovel Knight, leaving the rest of us in the dark, and you all know no matter what, none of us were just gonna sit still and do nothing about our own fate the few opportunities we had to control it. We took a shot last time, and unfortunately we missed. Now it's basically... _game on _ for all of us."

"_Well_," Sheik smirked back. "I appreciate you for being a good sport."

Knuckles was not afraid to roll his eyes.

"So Bonnie, basically what _you're _trying to say is that... 'Yeah, we're all getting along well, but unfortunately, we're at the bottom. And as much as I like you, you leave me with no other choice but to vote you out.'"

He nodded in complete agreement. "Long story short. I think you explained it better than I did."

"You see, master," Sheik spoke once more. "it is not like we all have anything against these three. We all uplifted each other in a certain way back in the pre-merge, and then we all came together and discussed which was the best option for all of us... But I guess at that point was where new plans were beginning to form, and I think that was when we all unofficially became divided."

"Give me an example."

"Freddy for example was the target at merge for potentially being a physical threat, but then Foxy suggested we target Shulk instead because Freddy wanted to flip... and now we really see what he meant by that."

"Foxy."

"...Can't say that she's wrong, I'll admit." He found it pointless to lie. "And I'll be honest. For me personally, I _still_ didn't want a knight to go home at that point. Even if I was working with Freddy and Shadow under the radar, I _still_ wanted to work the Knights Alliance. I mean, we fought hard to have the advantage over the emperors for a reason. That benefitted us, and me personally because I thought that with the emperors in the minority, that was the advantage. So clearly I still cared about the tribe no matter how many differences we had."

"I'll put it like this: we have Marth and Zelda in the middle of the bunch at the final eleven, trying to decide which employees they wanted to hire for the job. We worked our butts off to make sure our interviews were on point, but unfortunately, they preferred Chatan Four over us, and that's fine. If that's who Marth and Zelda decided to play with, then that's on Marth and Zelda... but now I'm at the bottom where I _really_ gotta live up to my name now."

"Well, we didn't prepare ourselves for nothing..." Bonnie gradually turned his head side to side. "If we gotta play from the bottom now, then that's how we gotta do it..."

...

"Alright, well, I believe after Bonnie's final words, then I guess it is time to vote to see how this all plays out. Shovel Knight, you're up."

He rose from his seat and began making his way over to the urn to cast his vote, him completely facing the camera before doing so. "No matter if an emperor or a knight goes home, I hope us knights have at least shown the world how to cooperate with one another."

Following Freddy and Bonnie, Knuckles was having his own voting confessional at the urn.

"I know I'm being painted the bad guy now, but if you come into the game expecting every single person from the same tribe to be with you each and every step of the way, especially these days, that's not how Survivor works. If Luigi would have went last time, you guys would have learned that the hard way."

Zelda calmly stood up from her seat and made her way past three of the other emperors that were on the jury, Shadow watching her writing a name down from his spot on the bench, still with arms folded.

Sheik followed right behind Greninja and Marth.

"Well, unlike back at camp, I can say that we had a bit of a healthy discussion about all of this. I suppose that it's a way of how we can all deal with everything right now..."

Foxy Michaels went ahead and wrote down his target, and Luigi was last, though certainly not least.

"To be honest, I don't even care which one of you goes home at this point. I just don't wanna go through the 'almost being voted out' process all over again. I've already gone through it twice, and it really could have been me last time. Though with respect, I wish you the very best of luck."

And with that, he sat back down.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Everyone, including the three jury members all waited patiently and quietly. Some stared into nowhere lost in their thoughts, while other eyed straight at Master Hand as the votes were tallied.

At long last, he made it back to the table to place down the urn.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now is the time to do so..."

All of Chatan Four slowly turned their heads towards Freddy Fazbear, with caused some stares in reaction from members of the Pirate Crew, all except Freddy himself.

...

And he stood up. "I'll go ahead and play it..."

Foxy looked rather surprised. "Wait, really?"

That caused a couple members of Bikutā to shoot stares of slight amusement as a reaction.

"You didn't know?" asked Greninja.

"No I really didn't." He hunched his shoulders with a grin. "Me, Shovel, and Luigi were watching him and Roy all the time."

"I found it at night." Freddy replied.

"Ah..."

By the time he made his way over to Master Hand, taking a good look at his tribe, before back at the Survivor host again. "You know, normally when you only have one idol on you, you clearly want to play this for yourself and be done with it, but even though it's the only one I'm holding onto, in a selfish game such as Survivor, sometimes you have to be the opposite and be _selfless_ instead. That being said,..."

Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy all watched.

"...Knuckles, this is for you."

A mix of jaw dropping expressions and raised eyebrows from the other nine survivors nearly all exchanged glances, the shocked members of the jury witnessing it all as Master Hand received Freddy's idol.

"Alright, I'm staying no matter what, then..." Knuckles eventually nodded in acceptance.

"Let's see how it plays out..." Foxy put his fist beneath his chin cocking his head.

"This _is_ a hidden immunity idol." Master Hand held it out. "Any votes cast against Knuckles, will not count. I'll read the votes..."

Literally everyone all stared and waited.

"First vote..."

Bonnie kept his eyes closed.

"...Knuckles. Does not count."

Immediately the echidna buried his face in his hands sighing in great relief, Foxy hanging his mouth open in amazement as Greninja shook his head in response not being satisfied at all.

Shadow being in the opposite mood however, he nodded as if it was what he wanted.

"Knuckles. Does not count."

"Knuckles. Does not count."

"...Aw, man..." Not having to worry, Knuckles shook Freddy's hand in defense. "Good job, man. I owe you one."

"No problem..."

Luigi just sat still and shook his head with a somewhat saddened expression since things were unable to turn out the way he wanted to.

"Knuckles. Does not count."

"Knuckles. Does not count."

...

"Greninja."

With his heart plummeting, the frog-like Pokémon found his eyes on the floor.

"One vote Greninja."

Sheik facepalmed with both of her hands.

Shadow bobbed his head up and down once more.

"Greninja. Two votes Greninja."

Freddy could not have been any happier, Foxy bringing his fist down feeling victorious.

Poor Greninja still could not have looked up at the master, feeling that his dreams were just seconds away from being crushed.

"Eleventh person voted out of Survivor and the fourth member of our jury, Greninja. That's three, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."

With a vocal sigh, he calmly did what was told of him, right before he was immediately hugged by Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Luigi following behind.

"Well, it's official." Shulk spoke watching Greninja making his way over to Master Hand. "It's not an Emperors club anymore..."

Suddenly, Sheik immediately felt that something was wrong, whispering to Shovel Knight. "Wait... Greninja's name was read thrice, but only five votes were for Knuckles..."

Luigi almost instantly widened his eyes in reaction. "W-Wait... does that mean?"

Shovel Knight hunched his shoulders as a confused Zelda eyed the cast one by one. Yet when she faced a certain resident of Altea, her mouth slowly dropped.

Foxy, Knuckles, and Bonnie slowly began to follow suit out of great relief, eyeing the blue-haired castaway as well.

He made no eye contact.

"Wait..." Roy blinked out of disbelief. "..._What_?"

"No way..." Shulk commented.

Even Shadow the Hedgehog held his mouth open.

"Greninja, the tribe has spoken."

"They sure did..."

_Snuff_.

Foxy briefly turned to Freddy. "Did you know...?"

"We talked last minute."

"Time for you to go."

Zelda, who could not have kept her eyes off of Marth, suddenly found hers meeting his.

"You're not going anywhere. I'll explain later."

"..."

"_Trust me_..."

"..._Well_, looks like we have the shocked reactions once again." Master Hand analyzed. "I don't know what it is with this group, but as of late, you guys have developed some sort of a talent for blindsides. Maybe it's in your blood. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

With a million thoughts of feelings running through peoples' minds, they all picked up their torches and headed out of the tribal.

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- _Knuckles_**

**Marth**** \- Greninja**

**Freddy**** \- Greninja**

**Luigi -_ Knuckles_**

**Sheik \- _Knuckles_**

**Greninja \- _Knuckles_**

**Knuckles**** \- Greninja**

**Shovel Knight** _**\- Knuckles**_

**Bonnie**** \- Greninja**

**Foxy**** \- Greninja**

**_10th Place:_ Greninja**

* * *

_"Well, hashtag blindside for me. I thought that voting out Knuckles was a safe option because I had a feeling Freddy had that idol from Motobu, but that didn't work out. And to top it all off, apparently Marth flipped. Don't know why, but he did. Oh well. Win some, you lose some. I just want to take the time and thank my trainer Calem for signing me up for this. It was really a lot of fun and I had the time of my life out here. Wouldn't change a thing."_

* * *

**...**

***Sighs* Here we go again I guess lol. Imma just jump right into the questions because I don't even know what to say lol. I don't even know what to focus on. The fact that the Pirate Crew prevailed or the fact that Marth flipped. ...Why not both? lol.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What do you think about Marth's flip? Do you think he's actually playing smart, or do you think time will tell?**

**2\. So now that the Pirate Crew is back in the majority, the rest of Chatan Four plus Zelda (or not based on what Marth said idk), who do you guys think might go home next?**

**Oh, and one more thing before anyone asks. Yes, the Loved Ones visit is happening in this story like last time. But I'm not telling when lol.**

**Vote for your top five characters of the season if you haven't already, watching my Emperors vs Knights YouTube intro, and I encourage everyone to review! See ya on Saturday! Greninja's Ponderosa chapter will be up soon! (I'm actually slightly behind on Ponderosa so if it's not coming out tomorrow, hopefully by Saturday.)**


	36. Chapter 36: Day 29

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 36 - Day 29

**Welcome back to another chapter of "Survivor - Emperors vs Knights" where last time, Freddy played his idol on the right person (Knuckles), and then to top it all off, Marth flipped on Chatan Four putting Sheik, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Zelda on the bottom, the former three now being on the bottom for the very first time this season. All of this resulting in Greninja's elimination who was considered a big threat for quite a while now. And also, this is the first time a knight has been eliminated since the Krystal vote and the first time a knight is going to be put on the jury, so what a relief for original Nago I suppose lol.**

**So now we have nine people remaining: Zelda, Marth, Freddy, Luigi, Sheik, Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, and Foxy all having a one in nine shot at a million dollars. Let's continue to see who has what it takes...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yeah, Pirate Crew prevailed after all in spite of the circumstances lol. Nobody except Freddy even expected Marth to flip. Poor Zelda though. Now she and her remaining close ally (Marth) are in two separate alliances. He has quite a bit explaining to do. Though he did say immediately after Greninja got blindsided that he was gonna fight to keep her around, so we'll see.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 28**

* * *

_Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Zelda, Bonnie, Sheik, Freddy, Luigi, Marth_

-/-

With day thirty creeping up on Bikutā, the tribe of nine made it back to their camp once more, fortunate enough to have survived eleven Tribal Councils without having to be voted out, whether their names have been written down or not.

However, sometimes when one survived a Tribal Council, there was a price to pay: one of your allies going home, and that exactly was what Sheik, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Zelda felt like, especially with the former three.

Nonetheless, it was time to focus on the Pirate Crew first, as Marth was actually the one who wanted to pull Zelda to the side before anyone from that alliance had a chance to speak with him to give them their thanks, which left Freddy to explain everything.

_"Pirate Crew officially prevailed tonight!" Foxy spoke out loud. "I honestly didn't expect all of us to survive, **and** be back in the majority, but not that I'm complaining, hahaha!"_

Bonnie placed a hand on his shoulder. "_Dude_..."

Freddy giggled. "I did it, didn't I?"

"Absolutely." Knuckles walked up to him, clapping his hand to shake it as he and Freddy briefly embraced, as well as other members of the Pirate Crew. "Seriously, thank you man. You sacrificed _your_ idol to save my life."

"Well, you and Foxy had to put my name down just to save my life, so if anything, _I _was the one that need to pay you guys back."

_"Turns out I used my idol for good!" An elated Freddy said. "Perhaps that idol was in fact meant for somebody else to have all along. After being saved by others in the game, I saved Knuckles with my idol, not only for my sake, but to also prove my loyalty. Of course I'm not gonna go into the final three with a blank resume. We needed each other more than ever than that tribal, and Shadow has officially been avenged."_

"You guys wanna know what happened before tribal?"

"Yeah."

"Cool, sure."

"Let's hear it."

"Okay, right before Tribal Council, Marth tells me that he's well aware of the fact that a knight hasn't been eliminated post-merge yet." He enlightened his fellow tribe members. "But then, he told me that he has no plans to work with Chatan Four long term. So, he tells me that Knuckles was the target, and that he's flipping without Zelda."

...

He laughed at the astonishing face he received. "I know, right? So I think Marth should be the one that can take the credit too."

"We'll thank him after he finishes talking to Zelda..." Bonnie suggested.

Speaking of Lowell, there he was with the Hyrulian.

"Are you mad at me?"

"No Marth, I can't say that I have bitter or ill feelings towards you." Zelda calmly shook her head. "For me, as long as I understand why people make certain decisions, then I have no reason to feel that way. ...However, that was kind of a flashy move you've made back there... Did you tell Freddy to play his idol on Knuckles?"

"Not that I knew that he actually had it or anything, but more specifically _if_ he had one, in which he did..."

_"Yes, I didn't go with the plan to stick with Chatan Four tonight." The Altean hero confirmed. "Nothing against them, but if I'm going to be on the bottom no matter what alliance I'm in, working with ones that originally began this game with me are the ones that I'd rather work with. Zelda unfortunately failed to see that side of the coin, and so I figured that if I can control my own fate in the game just how I do when I was fighting for Altea, then I would. I told Freddy that Knuckles was the target, and he told me that they're writing down Greninja for leading the alliance and running the show. However, the main motivation for me was that I can show Zelda of what, in my opinion, would be best for her... Though perhaps maybe it is more about me taking control of my own fate... You know what, regardless, I've made my decision. I mean, sure, a knight was set to be on the jury anyway, but Knuckles is far easier to beat than Greninja when it comes to the finals... So to avoid breaking the bond that I have with Zelda, I am going to continue to fight for myself_**_ and _**_Zelda until the night my flame is extinguished. ...Though for right now,... I am not certain of what she thinks of me... I still betrayed her even though it wasn't my full intention... And that is the most difficult part about this competition here..."_

Perhaps for Marth, it was best to give Zelda some time...

As for Shovel Knight, Sheik, and Luigi, they were busy having their own conversation with one another of course.

"Well," Sheik lifted her hands only to drop them with a heavy sigh. "that's it. Our final four plan is ruined. Greninja is out of the game, Marth flipped, and now we're all at the bottom with Zelda..."

"I miss Greninja already..." Luigi said with a saddened look. "I really liked that guy... Things aren't going to be the same without him..."

"I'm sad for Zelda, too." Shovel Knight added. "This isn't the first time she's at the bottom where things didn't work out for her from what I heard. That girl just can not catch a break..."

"..." That was when the only 'real' ninja remaining in the game blinked all of a sudden. "Wait a minute... Don't you have your idol? ...You sill have it, right?"

"...Yes..." Shovel Knight lowered his eyes to the ground. "I already know where this is going..."

With moments of silence, Sheik and Luigi both stood there stunned, mainly the former in particular. "Shovel Knight, if you knew that one of us was gonna get blindsided after Freddy got up to play his idol for Knuckles, you could have played your idol for Greninja to save us all..."

"Yeah, I know... I was well aware of that..."

"Then why didn't you do it?"

"...Well,... to answer this with honesty, when it comes to this alliance, eventually if we all would have got to our four, then there's the final three we would have had to worry about." He explained. "And to tell you the truth, for my game, I thought that Greninja would have been too dangerous for me to beat when it came to the end. For all I know, he could have persuaded you to get rid of me. So for me, he would have been my biggest threat. And he already had the potential to simply win immunity the rest of the way."

"..."

"And besides, now that I think about it, if I did play my idol on him, there would have been no votes. If we had to vote again, Marth had already flipped, and I think that would have actually forced Zelda to side with him with a little convincing from Marth, and one of us would have been out anyway."

"..." Luigi just stood still and watched. With all this conversing, nobody even thought about getting the fire started for that night yet.

_"I hate to be the bad guy here. Luckily for me I thought of myself and Greninja at the right time where I was with him while others were on that reward. But this just basically summarize everything. For my best interest, it was best for me to actually not play the idol on him even though I really do like him. Though clearly Greninja was even more close to Sheik than me. Not that there was anything wrong with it, but unfortunately we are all playing for the title of Sole Survivor, and I believe that I have finally adjusted to the gameplay rather well. However, Sheik might not realize this, but this is the absolute minimum I could have done that allowed Greninja to be eliminated, because at least I didn't have to be the bad guy and actually help vote him out. Regardless, I suppose Marth and Zelda aren't the only two that might have their relationship in question. Yet unlike them, me and Sheik still have to work together anyway... With Luigi of course."_

After thinking it over for nearly a dozen seconds, Sheik ended everything off with a sigh.

"You know what, I suppose I can't blame you, Shovel. And besides, now's not the time to argue. Right now our number priority is to get the majority back. We're gonna have to have one of us to win immunity."

When everybody finally started to prepare for bed, Zelda actually stayed out near the water simply staring off into the distance. It was a rather full moon that night, and the reflection showed itself pretty clearly in the ocean.

_"Honestly, at this point in the game, I'm..." She wiped a tear that she never wanted people to see. "I'm surprised that I'm still here. Yet, as I do every day, I'm going to keep fighting to achieve my goal out here. No matter what it takes..."_

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Day 29**

* * *

The following morning, it was sort of cloudy, yet if one was predicting a seven day forecast for Okinawa, Japan, he or she would have came to the conclusion that the clouds were set to clear up later on in the afternoon.

Though the weather at that point was the least concern when it came to everyone. In spite of everyone being awake, no one wanted to fix anything to eat for breakfast that day until at least the reward challenge was over with. And so far, there was nothing in the tree mail, giving them a sign that perhaps the challenge was going to take place later on in the day. But until then, that meant no breakfast. Some were already worried about running low on rice, anyway.

And no, Knuckles had no problems not fishing at the time either. However, speaking of the echidna, he, Freddy, and Bonnie were all sitting near the water sharing small conversations with one another while everyone else remained at the camp.

"So what made you believe him?" The Mobian asked the taller anthropomorphic animal. "Like, I'm pretty sure you had to gamble your idol taking Marth's word for it. He may be a nice guy, but obviously in Survivor he could have been lying to you about flipping and then you would have idol'd yourself out of the game."

"Well, I guess it's all based on a gut feeling I suppose. Me and Marth don't have the strongest relationship, but we're both fond of each other at least. And with us both being from the same tribe, there's that automatic trust right there. And like I said last night, based on alliances, I've... already hired you as my employee."

Both of the knights laughed.

"And... I didn't really want my employee out in danger like that. It's like a life or death situation since once you're out, you're done. I've stepped up and gave up my idol to save you to show you that I needed you to stay. I put my neck on the line for my workers all the time, and I will do the same in Survivor if either of you are in trouble again."

"Aww, that's really nice of you, Fred." Bonnie smiled warmly. "I bet in real life if things were different for me I would have had no problems working for you. You seem to be a good guy even though you're bigger than all three of us, it seems like you generally care for the people that are working around you."

"I really do." Freddy grinned back. "When I'm at work and we were struggling, some of my former employees weren't always on the same page as me. Like I told Foxy, we fought at times trying to figure what was right for the restaurant, and then some of them did some things that I didn't like, and I had to sacrifice them just to promote the business even though I didn't want to fire some of them, but I knew it was in my best interest."

They listened.

"And for the ones that stayed, I made sure that I cared for every last one of them. When their hands got dirty, I got dirty with them as well and we all treated each other like family. I may be the manager of them all, but I don't want them to see me as this big and scary bear telling them what to do. I'm just normal just like everyone else doing my job and managing people, you know? So that's why I like to use my position for good. Me and Foxy told each other stories such as that way back and that's how we connected."

_"You know, I wasn't really thinking about Freddy all that much." Knuckles admitted. "Throughout this time I was mostly thinking of how me and Shadow were gonna get by. ...But clearly it's not like that anymore, yet at least last night happened. Maybe I should make sure that they would put 'hashtag justice for Shadow' at the bottom of the screen."_

**#JusticeforShadow**

_"But he's opening up a bit more about his story prior to coming out here, which was in fact nice to see. Not gonna lie about that. ...I guess we all have our stories out here. Like, I have no problems opening up to people if they ask me questions, but in a game like this, I'm afraid that things could actually turn for the worst since I believe that my story would make me too threatening to others at the end. ...So I guess they'll all see when they're watching this season at home. ...Just need to figure out how to start this, 'cause I'm kinda talkin' about it outta nowhere, and I kinda don't wanna look back on it again, but whatever..."_

"We just need to figure out who's gonna be our target next." The echidna told the two FNAF characters. "At this point, it _has_ to be either Shovel Knight or Sheik."

"No problem with that." Bonnie was on board with the plan. "Zelda can stay, and I'm pretty sure both Freddy and Marth want Zelda to stay, too. There are still some knights we need to get rid of."

Freddy one hundred percent agreed with a nod.

_"When I was just a kid, I was just being a normal five year old playing around with my father watching telling me that if I can't see him, he can't see me. But anyway, my father actually turned around to do something for a little bit, and I ignored his warning and ran off being a typical kid that didn't listen... and looking at me now, it's quite obvious that I regret that... it will forever haunt until the day that I'm buried... Basically, I heard all these loud, unsettling noises seemingly from back at the emerald shrine where the master emerald was... And I'll be honest; tough guy actually got scared for once, but hey, my father was back there, so I hesitantly made my way back, and... of course it wasn't a pretty sight when I got back to say the least... I found my father though, but not in the state that I wanted him to be in, as well as the rest of my kind... Let's just... leave it at that..."_

"I guess the best thing to do for us is to have one of us to try and win immunity so that we have more options. We all know Luigi isn't going anywhere, even though we are still uncertain who has the idol,... but we know Luigi doesn't have it."

"Yeah, we'll probably talk more about it based on who wins immunity and we'll make sure Foxy and Marth hear us out." Knuckles responded to Freddy before the three of them got up to separate.

_"But then a few minutes later, call me crazy if you want, but while I was in the middle of crying and throwing up at the sight of what was in front of me, the master emerald actually started to speak to me telling me that I'm the last official guardian to guard the emerald and make sure it doesn't fall in the wrong hands. And... that's how my life went by. Eventually I met Sonic, made new friends, and the next I knew, here I am... I have no question to ask why I was put on the Knights tribe basically. So even though I basically had no childhood after what happened, if anything, it made me become the man that I am today. Now I have enough motivation more than anything that will always fight until the day that I can't anymore. They say you always can do anything if you set your mind to it. I guess that everyone says that. But they do have a point, and based of what I've gone through, it's not hard for me to see why."_

-/-

Luigi later on in the day was over by the tree mail looking inside to find anything. But, nope. There was nothing to be seen.

Freddy who was with in the time raised his eyebrows out of astonishment, yet he was clearly more confused just like the one standing next to him. He could have sworn that there was supposed to be a reward challenge for that day. It was day twenty-nine on Kodai Island, at the final nine. One would have assumed that if it was not going to be a family visit, there should have been at least some type of challenge.

The bear and the plumber returned to the camp with the unfortunate news that mail was nowhere to be found.

Shovel Knight sighed. "Guys, I do not know about you all, but if there is somehow not going to be a challenge today, then maybe we should really consider cooking at least a bit of rice. We all deserve to have _something_ to eat today, or else we would have no energy to perform at camp and in the challenges..."

_"So I've been camping before." The shovel wielder stated. "I never had to worry about rationing anything, but I do have my experience. And even if I didn't, I know it would not take an expert to realize that we can't do work if we have no energy in our system. Everyone including myself was expecting a reward challenge today, but so far, that's not happening. And here it is, already past noon, and we're all starving..."_

"Should we wait for at least a couple more hours?" Sheik questioned. "I mean, I don't want to start cooking and we find out that we're having a challenge just five minutes later."

"Sure, but look." He pointed to the sky. "The clouds have cleared up and the sun is high in the sky. I believe if we just set around here with nothing in our stomachs things aren't going to turn out well. If we can't be fed by a reward, then we're going to have to feed ourselves. ...And to be honest, it really pains me to see you all starving like this..."

"Aw, don't worry about it." Foxy chortled slightly at his fellow knight's sympathetic comment. "We've dealt with this for thirty days. What's new? ...Though I do agree. I don't think we're getting a challenge at all..."

Knuckles spoke up. "Shall I get the fishing gear ready? I know I have at least a bit of energy left in me. I don't mind."

Bonnie raised his hand. "And since Knuckles is saying that he's going to use the remaining strength he has, I might as well go with him to make sure he doesn't drown."

"I'll wash the pot out." Luigi volunteered.

"...Alright, let's get cooking then. Zelda, maybe we can look for more coconuts toward the water well this time..."

Those two got up and left.

"I'll help..." Marth Lowell followed the two women with a heavy sigh.

_"I mean, even though relationships are sort of all over the place as of now, right now in Survivor, it's time to actually... **think** about Survivor." The legitimate shovel knight leaned in closer. "This time, about actually surviving in the wilderness out here on this island. Even if it's just a small portion of food that we have to share, as l long as we are treating the situation as if we **were** actually stranded, then we need enough food to store inside ourselves."_

Now Shovel Knight was seen walking while using a stick that matched his height for extra support, sitting down beside Bonnie as Zelda was busy passing the rice around. It looked as if the portions that were in the seashells that they found were basically like, three or four bites of rice. No wonder Knuckles was so focused on fishing.

He did manage to catch quite a few fish, by the way. Luckily for the merged tribe of nine there were literally plenty of fish in the sea. It seemed that his energy that he had to spend for his tribe was well worth it. Now they all never had to worry about complaining about the food situation for the rest of the day. It was getting just past two o'clock at the time, so to them it was pretty clear that no challenge was scheduled. Oh well.

...However, a few hours later at sunset, Luigi all of a sudden came rushing to the camp with literally every castaway eyeing him running back toward them due to the noises he made upon doing so. Shovel Knight could have sworn he fell at one point.

Nonetheless, he had an envelope in his hand, giving an immediate reaction from Bikutā.

_"We are told by the people to check tree mail all the times at least every other hour, since you never know what can happen. So something told me that I should go check again, and guess what? I actually found something! And it's already sunset about to turn dark soon? I'm actually quite excited about it. Looks like we are getting a challenge after all!"_

"Read it out loud." Sheik suggested.

"Alright, it says..." The plumber cleared his throat to get started. "'Unlike the rest of the season where these take place when the sun is high in the sky, this challenge will take place at nightfall, where if you are unlucky, it would be rather difficult for you to get by...'"

"Hmm..." Foxy had his arms folded. "'Harder for you to get by.' ...Sounds like a reward challenge for me?"

"Oh well." Shovel Knight sighed with a slight head shake. "The ones who are to be picked would probably actually go tomorrow, anyway..."

* * *

**Night 29**

* * *

Without a doubt, it was the least likely challenge the survivor castaways expected. Though in their defense, it was rarely used in the modern days of Survivor, even though it was a classic during the old school days.

For the next challenge of the season, there were nine posts literally named for each of the remaining players side by side, torches scattered all over the area as if there was some sort of ritual that was set to begin.

"Come on in, guys!"

Foxy, Sheik, Shovel Knight, Zelda, Freddy, Knuckles, Luigi, Bonnie, and Marth all entered the challenge area with looks of curiosity and excitement as they approached a black line lying down in the sand one by one.

"Greninja and Shulk would have _loved_ this..." Bonnie mumbled.

"Alright..." Master Hand began with a 'grin.' "Time for a Survivor _classic_. Welcome to Survivor _folklore_. ...So, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge?"

If the challenge itself never shocked them, the fact that it was apparently an immunity challenge certainly did, as literally every single player remained behind the black line in astonishment.

"Wait... _immunity_ challenge? Sheik commented. "Did I hear right?"

"You sure did!"

"...We read that tree mail and we thought it was reward challenge." Knuckles recalled. "There was some... 'hard to get by' part..."

"Exactly." He 'nodded' in confirmation. "And it meant that it's gonna be hard for eight of you to survive the next Tribal Council, because eight of you won't have that individual immunity necklace..."

Not a single comment from anyone was made.

_"I guess it's how the old saying goes." Bonnie Roberts figured. "Always expect the unexpected..."_

"Here's how it's gonna work." The host of the show began to explain the instructions. "I'm gonna tell you a story about Japanese history, and on my go, you will all grab a torch and race out in a jungle to a series of five of stations with one question with three answers. When you think you have the right answer, grabbed the wrapped medallion, head back to the start. You know if the answer is right if you reveal a _gold_ medallion, before you hook it up at your station. However, if you turn out to be _wrong_, you will reveal a _wooden _medallion, which you will toss into the fire. First person to hook five gold medallions at their station, wins immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the twelfth person voted out of Survivor and will become the fifth member of our jury."

"_However_," He only had one more thing to ad. "the next Tribal Council will not take place directly _after_ this challenge, but _tomorrow night_."

Sheik appeared to be rather elated.

_"That was actually the one thing I was hoping for." The Sheikah told. "The knot in my stomach immediately became undone when I heard that, because me and my alliance barely talked any strategy at all at how we are going to overcome the Hidden Five alliance. And if we had to go to tribal that night,... we would have probably whispered to each other of who we were gonna vote out during the trip to Tribal Council, haha!"_

"Shall we get started? Today, I'm gonna tell you a story about the history of the religion in Japan. Shinto and Buddhism are the two most dominant religions in Japan, but we're gonna focus on Shinto first. Shinto is said to be as old as Japan was first discovered. However, unlike most religions, Shinto never had an official founder for it. Why? Because the religion became more about the people and their traditions, rather than focusing on any specific person. In spite of this, one of the most important things to know about Shinto are the 'kami'. Kami was said to be the Shinto gods who had the ability to take the form of natural concepts of life, such as fertility, rain, trees, rivers, and mountains. Even when a person dies, that is when they become a kami, which will then be recognized by his or her descendants. Amaterasu, which is the Sun Goddess, was said to be one of the most powerful kami."

Though every one of Master Hand's contestants appeared to be listening rather well, it never meant that they were all set to excel at the actual challenge based on how sharp their listening skills and memory were.

"On the other hand," The hand continued. "Buddhism was not introduced to Japan until the sixth century after already being introduced to countries like China, India, and Korea thanks to the Mahayana, also known as the 'Greater Vehicle'. Yet due to the theories the religion had, as well as Shinto being its competition, it was rather difficult for the religion to spread among its people. Although they proved to be somewhat successful during the Nara Period thanks to the monasteries that existed at the time, the monastery such as the 'Tadiji' itself, proved to be an even greater conflict for the government that would go on for centuries. Yet eventually over time, both religions turned out to co-exist among its people. However, in spite of Japan's history with the two religions, neither of them typically play significant roles in Japanese culture when it comes to everyday life. All of the questions that are in the jungle are going to be based on the story that I've just told you."

"For immunity, and a guaranteed spot in the final eight." The master raised his hand. "Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

And off they went, immediately grabbing a torch in the process.

"You can start with any station you want!"

That was because of the fact that even though the stations were in different areas, they were still the exact same distance from the starting area of the challenge. And also, since there were nine people going for five stations, it was a guarantee that two or more people were going to be at the same station multiple times. Freddy and Marth were a good example as they were both chose station one first.

Though since Freddy was faster, he managed to read the question first while Marth was right on his tail.

"'Buddhism was introduced in which of the three countries, prior to being introduced to Japan?'" He glanced at the answers. "A, Vietnam. B, Turkey. C, Korea... Korea. Easy."

Opening the urn that was right behind the third option, he grabbed his wrapped medallion and immediately began racing back, right before Marth grabbed the same answer. How unfortunate that one had no right to unwrap the medallion _before_ he or she returned to their station.

Zelda was the only one that ended up at a station by herself.

"'When did Shinto became a dominant religion for Japan?' A, after Buddhism became established. B, when Japan was founded. C, both religions became dominant simultaneously... _B_."

She grabbed her medallion out of the urn and began to hustle back.

Foxy and Shovel Knight chose to run straight ahead to station three as the former read being the fastest.

"'What was one of the natural concepts of life the Kami had the ability to take form?' ...A, Wind. B, Fertility. C, Hills..."

"'What was the Tadiji?'" Knuckles and Luigi found themselves to be at station four. "Was it A, a building of which Shinto followers worshipped. B, the name of the government for Buddhism, or C, a monastery in which Buddhism began to gain power in Japan..."

For some reason, Luigi actually wanted Knuckles to answer first just to see...

...And he picked option A... Luigi was the one who picked option C.

Finally at station five were Bonnie and Sheik, both of them entering their station about the same time, yet Sheik was reading the question out loud while Bonnie read it to himself in his mind.

"'What was the main reason behind the conflict that occurred between the Shinto and Buddhism religions in Japan?' A, because the Shinto were not fond of the monastery the Buddhists used to gain power. B, because the Buddhists wanted their religion to the dominant religion, or C, because the Shinto was the already established religion at the time..."

Watching Sheik choose answer B, Bonnie chose answer A instead.

"Everybody heading back with medallions!"

Right when the survivors returned to their stations, they wasted no time unfolding their wrapped medallions as if they were searching for the pot of gold that was supposed to be at the end of the rainbow, yet only this time it was more of a Survivor type of style.

"...Huh?"

"Knuckles is wrong! Gotta head back!"

Cursing loudly, he angrily picked up his torch once again to head back to the fourth station, throwing his wooden medallion into the fire to burn.

"Marth's right! Luigi's right! Freddy's right!"

"Come on, come on..."

Mumbling to himself in hopes of getting what he wanted, Foxy Michaels became more and more nervous within each time he unwrapped a layer of cloth.

"...Yes!"

"Foxy's right! Zelda's right! ...Bonnie's wrong! Go back!"

Sighing out of frustration, off again he went, followed by Sheik a couple seconds later.

"Shovel Knight's right! Everybody with one golden medallion except for Knuckles, Bonnie, and Sheik! Are they already out of this challenge?"

From that point on, the castaways became separated all over the place once more in hopes to get the right answer with the right medallion. This was a game for a million dollars after all.

"Knuckles is back! Foxy is back! Marth is back! ...Here comes Shovel Knight and Luigi. Sheik, Zelda, and Bonnie right behind!"

Freddy at the fifth station wasted a couple seconds thinking to himself whether or not he actually picked up the right answer. However, given a bit of thought, he nodded in reassurance. Though one would have called him out for standing their wasting time, it was basically better by making sure one was right the first time, rather than getting it wrong before going through the consequences.

"Foxy's right! Bonnie's right! Marth is right! ...Sheik is right!"

"What...?"

"Zelda is wrong! Luigi is wrong! ...Knuckles is wrong again!"

This time with no comment, he simply angrily tossed his wooden medallion in the fire once more.

"Shovel Knight is right!"

"'When did Shinto became a dominant religion for Japan?'" Marth Lowell read the question out loud. "...It's B."

Sheik was at another station. "'Buddhism was introduced in which of the three countries, prior to being introduced to Japan?' ...I think it's Korea..."

Freddy was actually right behind Sheik, who decided to go with Vietnam instead.

"Sorry, Sheik..."

"Now we have castaways at the starting station and castaways at one of the five stations with the questions." Master Hand observed. "Marth is right! Foxy is right! ...Freddy is wrong!"

"What?"

"Sheik is right!"

"About time..." a certain echidna's voice sounded.

"Knuckles is finally on the board! It is Foxy, Marth, and Shovel Knight in the lead with three. ...Zelda is right once again! She also has the potential to win the challenge! Bonnie, Sheik, Luigi, and Freddy all have two. Knuckles is just now getting on the board with one!"

"'What was the Tadiji?'" After nimbly reading through the answers, Shovel Knight picked up the answer he assumed what was correct. "Even if I lose this challenge this whole thing is just another story to tell Shield Knight at home..."

"'What was the main reason behind the...' Because Shinto was already kind of a big deal at the time, right? ...I really hope I _ am_…" Luigi sighed to himself as he made his way through the jungle with his torch.

"Freddy's right this time! But here comes Shovel Knight and Luigi again! Here comes Foxy! If he and Shovel both get this right, they would be both tied for the lead so far with four..."

…

"And they are! Luigi is right is well but he is one medallion behind! ...Now Marth is right!" Master Hand called out. "Marth, Foxy, and Shovel Knight only have one more medallion to go! Marth, if you want to win, you need to _ hurry_!"

"'Buddhism was introduced in which of the three countries, prior to being introduced to Japan?'"

Foxy was at his final station.

"'What was the main reason behind the conflict that occurred between the Shinto and Buddhism religions in Japan?'"

Shovel Knight was also at his final station. Both players had to think quickly and carefully. It was not as if the challenge was going to last all night, after all.

"Bonnie's wrong again! ...Zelda is right! She now has four! ...But here comes Shovel Knight and Foxy again!"

At that point, she really had to pray to the _Survivor_ Gods that both of them actually got their final question wrong.

But it was too late..."

"Master I'm done!"

"_**FOXY WINS IMMUNITY WITH A GUARANTEED SPOT AT THE FINAL EIGHT!**_"

Cheering to himself out of relief, he respectably shook Shovel Knight's hand for being right on his tail.

"Congratulations, Foxy. We both paid attention and listened rather well."

What a way to rub it in Knuckles's face.

-/-

Not too long afterward, all the castaways made their return.

"Foxy, for the second time, come on over." With a few claps, Michaels gladly made his way over for the immunity necklace to be placed around his neck once again. "You are safe at Tribal Council with no chance of you going home. As for the rest of you, after soon to be exactly thirty days out here in Okinawa, one of you will not make it to see day thirty-one. You have all day tomorrow to figure out who's going to be your target for the next Tribal Council. Foxy, it will not be you. Congrats."

"Appreciate it."

_"I predict that people will be screaming at their televisions in shock that I did not win." Marth assumed. "But the truth is, just because I speak Japanese, doesn't mean that I was born in Japan. So this was new for me as well... And besides, at least I've gotten all my answers right. Though it is rather interesting. I've never learned anything like it before. Perhaps I should share this with my comrades when I make my return to Altea. This is definitely worth studying indeed."_

* * *

**Alright, for starters, I am very surprised of how little this challenge occurs in Survivor these days (only one time in the modern era other than this of course). This was one of the few night challenges first of all, and I don't think it would hurt to continue to do something different like this once in a while for all the future seasons out there for the real show. They really should do it again.**

**But anyway, we have Knuckles revealing his backstory, and a lot of relationships on the line, or at least a bit more complicated because of last night. Marth and Zelda aren't on the same page, Shovel Knight and Sheik on the whole Greninja thing (though this bond is the most likely to be patched up), and basically anyone who isn't aligned with Knuckles right now.**

**Panther Caruso from StarFox is going to be on the Beauty tribe for Survivor - Mexico! (Specifically because of his personality. Those of you who know Panther's personality will know what I mean.)**

**Greninja's Ponderosa chapter will be up later today!**

**Questions:**

**1\. Do you think Marth and Zelda will see eye to eye again? Or will their relationship be done as time goes on?**

**2\. What do you think of Knuckles's backstory prior to this game?**

**3\. What do you think of this "surprise" (sorta) immunity challenge?**

**I encourage everyone to review! Vote for your favorite characters on my poll and I will see you all on Wednesday!**


	37. Chapter 37: Day 30

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 37 - Day 30

**(Longest chapter yet...)**

**Welcome back to another chapter of Emperors vs Knights where today we are just gonna go straight through day thirty and the twelfth person of this game will be eliminated and become the fifth member of the jury. And it a guarantee that it won't be Foxy Michaels who won individual immunity for the second time at the Survivor Folklore challenge.**

**So now that we have the Pirate Crew back in the majority thanks to Marth, now Sheik, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Zelda are the ones who have to be the underdogs here. One of them is used to it at this point (Zelda) while the other three get a taste of what it feels like, since those up to the Greninja vote were the only people that were always in the majority and always voted correctly every Tribal Council and dominated the game. So they are officially getting a taste of what that feels like. But let's see if they can make an attempt to overcome the Pirate Crew once more...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** I'm excited for Panther, too! He literally has no recognition on this site when it comes to Smash, so I think it's time we make a change here. He's one of the most interesting characters from StarFox imo. But as for rivalries, wouldn't be surprised if one occurs, but if it ends up being Zelda vs Foxy, that could be rather interesting.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Day 30**

* * *

_Freddy, Sheik, Knuckles, Zelda, Luigi, Marth, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Bonnie_

-/-

The following morning actually set somewhat of an unusual feelings among the castaways, solely because of the events of last night. Yet more specifically of how it all ended up in the end.

Sheik said it all while she was conversing with Shovel Knight. "...So weird..."

"What?"

"I mean... it's not every day where one wins an immunity challenge and then we have to vote somebody off _the next day_. And now we have all day to have as many conversations as we can before the Tribal Council. Definitely more time than usual."

"Ah, I see..." Shovel Knight nodded in agreement. Though the two were speaking rather quietly due to the entire tribe around them, each of them being involved in a conversation of their own. Yet for the shovel warrior and the ninja, they preferred to be more quieter than everyone for strategy purposes.

"...You know, Sheik?" The knight spoke again. "I don't think I've ever apologized for not playing my idol on Greninja the other day..."

"Oh?" She was laying down at first, so she lifted her head a bit. "Apologize? You think playing your own game and actually having legitimate reasons to not do it is something to apologize for? I mean, Greninja is gone now. But you and Luigi are left and now we have Zelda."

"I know, I know..." He waved it off. "I mean, I suppose I just... I really felt guilty about not doing it. For one, I had no intention on hurting you in any way, since it's apparent that the two of you are like siblings and it is rather not difficult to see why. But the other thing is that I myself liked the guy very much. And if there was a final four in Survivor (which obviously is never gonna happen) then I would have had no problems with us four going the whole way. You, Sheik, and Luigi all deserve to make it as far in the game as possible. You and Greninja have taught me many things, so I really have this desire to make up for what happened... or _didn't _ happen..."

"Well,..." Sheik actually formed a warm smile, now actually feeling a shade of guilt herself for confronting Shovel Knight on night twenty-eight. "I guess I can't blame you for feeling some type of way, but you shouldn't have to. Like you said, Marth probably would have convinced Zelda to turn anyway. Though at this point the most important thing for us to do is to overcome the opposing alliance so that we can all _make up _for Greninja being blindsided."

_"Of course I was shocked that Shovel didn't play his idol for Greninja. I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I was kind of annoyed at him about it. ...But not directly at Shovel Knight for playing his own game... I don't know... I... I guess I just wanted Greninja to stay. Not only for game reasons, but because he's also been a good friend and I know how much he loves this game. We've already made plans on how we're going to meet up in real life when all of this is done. Although, like Shovel said before. Zelda would have turned, even though I like Zelda as well. Regardless, that didn't happen. Right now, what we need to do is to figure out how do we get out of this hole that we're in. Obviously, besides Zelda, me, Shovel, and Luigi are in an awful spot at the moment. Now all three of us are the underdogs here that have to struggle... Though to be fair, based on my thoughts of what could happen to my game before I stepped foot on the island, I should have known that it was bound to happen sooner or later..."_

"For the first time in this game, I am actually worried sick of my fate, as well as everyone else that's in our alliance right now..." Even by the tone of his voice one could have inferred that the shovel legend was thinking of the possible worst case scenario that could have occurred. "If we do not do anything now, we are going to remain on the bottom and be picked off one by one. I've always had control over my own fate. Now others have my fate in their hands... It is sort of terrifying to be honest..."

"Of course it's terrifying." Sheik could not have agreed more. "And to top it all off, since people don't see Luigi as a threat, and Zelda probably not going anywhere because I don't think they have any plans on voting an emperor any time soon, one of us could be sent off to the jury right behind Greninja, which is of course unsatisfying."

"So, what do you think would be our best play moving forward?"

"Well, clearly Foxy, Bonnie, Knuckles, and Freddy are a tight four, so of course none of them is gonna suddenly flip over to our side. So that means by default, we have to find someway to get Marth back. And luckily we have all day to try and convince him with the best approach we can come up with... I mean, Foxy won immunity last night. So he's crossed out..."

Shovel Knight sighed at the stress. "That's it. I'm playing my idol... And I probably need to look for another one so I can give it to you."

"...Oh, you would really do that for me?"

He bobbed his head up and down. "I am. It is only fair..."

"Well, I mean you don't have to... But that's entirely up to your choice."

_"No matter what any of us might think of it, even though he quite literally just flipped on us last tribal, getting Marth back over to our side by flipping again is the only way we can get the majority back. He had a relationship with Zelda. Yes, I am aware that there's a possibility that it won't be the same anymore, but out of those people, he's the most likely to work with us since he and Zelda both did it before. None of those other people are ever gonna work with us for the rest of the game. So if we don't have Marth, either me or Shovel Knight's adventure will come to an end."_

-/-

Bonnie and Foxy were both with Freddy lying down in the sand on the beach.

"Alright, I'd ourselves ten minutes max out here before one of Chatan Four comes over..."

"Let's just call it the Chatan Alliance at this point." Foxy suggested to Bonnie lying down on his stomach with his arms beneath his chin. "I mean Greninja is already out of the game and Zelda was never on Chatan to begin with... But sure, let's start talking now. Shovel Knight or Sheik? Those two are our only options."

"Yeah, I agree." Freddy nodded. "Luigi so far hasn't done anything to make himself a target and Marth clearly doesn't want Zelda gone and voting her out would do nothing for us, anyway."

Speaking of the swordsman, there he was approaching them nearby.

"Hello there. My apologies for being late. There was a large spider on my personal belongings."

"That's fine." Freddy smirked with a small laugh. "We were just discussing our options for tonight. Luigi and Zelda shouldn't even be options to vote for. Sure like last time, Luigi was a safe option but for, but because we didn't get rid of him the first time we went after the safe vote, this time, they're probably going to suspect it and give Luigi the idol. I mean, he is Shovel's number one ally after all."

"Agreed." Marth's nod was clearly more about Zelda, but he had no problems crossing both of their names out regardless. "Sheik is definitely more physical at some challenges than Shovel Knight. Those last two clearly weren't physical, so in the challenge department, I'd say Sheik is the more dangerous one."

"But on the other hand, we also have Shovel Knight who even has a greater social game than Sheik." Bonnie answered. "If Sheik somehow gets to the end, at least we would be more likely to beat her. Shovel could get a lot of jury votes."

"And then to top it all off..." Michaels heaved a heavy sigh. "We _still_ don't know who has the idol... That's the most frustrating part."

_"Man... Shovel Knight and Sheik are doing a **really** good job holding onto that idol." Foxy gradually shook his head. "I don't know which of the two had it but they're doing a great job by keeping their idol a secret. Heck, they're not even acting like **either **__of them have it right now, unless they themselves predicted that they needed to play their idol sooner, they themselves probably forgot all about it, hahaha! But if neither of them is gonna play anything, especially **now** since they're on the bottom, at this point we'd better hope to get rid of the idol and flush it out. Then again, they're **on **the bottom. Somebody's playing it and it's really scaring me. We've just gotten the majority back and I don't exactly have plans on being back on the bottom myself."_

-/-

_"Sure, with my flip last night, based on the relationships people have with one another, I'm probably on the outs no matter the circumstances." Marth figured who was found within the forest. "However, if I am going to forever be part of this alliance until the season is done, then it is best for me to take advantage of the situation and have private conversations with the one individual that just so happens to be the one reason to why I flipped over. ...Pizza restaurant manager, Freddy Fazbear."_

"Alright, so while we are both together walking to the water well, I'd like to use this time... if you don't mind of course..."

"You don't have to hesitate. This is the very first time we're talking together like this since your flip."

"Alright, then." Lowell and Fazbear were guiding themselves along the path way to collect water for themselves. "Now, I am well aware that Foxy, Bonnie, and Knuckles all saved you from being voted out, so you are probably naturally tighter with them. However, my personal opinion is that even though we've just voted out Greninja the previous tribal, it is exactly six knights with three emperors. Yes, quite clearly it is not Emperors vs Knights that much anymore, but I still trust you."

"I trust you as well."

"Good." That was exactly what Lowell wanted to hear. "So my opinion is that because of the numbers winding down at this stage in the competition, we need to figure out a plan for the finals in advance, rather than waiting until the last minute."

"Cool." He was all for it, kicking a rock away that was in his path. Fortunately he was wearing shoes at the time. "I'm sure final three deals this early wouldn't hurt. It's like hurrying up and submitting your application before somebody gets the job..."

That caused Marth to blink. "You know... I suppose it is _also_ as if you are signing up for a position in the army back at home."

Fazbear grinned at that. "It is like that. Isn't it? Looks like we can relate to each other more than we think even though where I come from, swords, bows, and magic aren't the main use of weapons when it comes to defending yourself. But getting back to us relating to each other, it's probably because it's the whole authority thing, I guess. But anyway, what do you think?"

"Alright, these are our options. For option A, I'm thinking of me, you, and Zelda."

"Okay..."

"And as for option B, I'm thinking of me, you, and Knuckles... I..." Now feeling guilty, the poor hero of Altea hung his head down as he continued his walk. "It pains me to say this, but even though I promised Zelda that she would remain on the island, I never exactly informed her that it was a guarantee that she will make it to the end... So if I have to vote Zelda out of the game during one of the last few Tribal Councils of the season, then I will do just that... I've had to make sacrifices in my army before... Knuckles could be rather easy to be if he gets to the end, who you are close with. So with us three all at the end, it will satisfy the both of us..."

"You make good points..."

_"I don't think me and Marth actually developed sort of a deep connection until now." Fazbear stated. "So it's nice that we're finally more talks with one another. He gave me two options so that the both of us can get to the end of the game... But I'm sorry. Neither of them actually work for me in my opinion. Marth's basically telling me that he wants me to betray all of my closest allies just so that he can make sure I'm his new number one since we're both emperors. Smart idea for him, terrible idea on my part. Not even option B works for me because even though it has Knuckles involved, that means I would have to betray both Foxy and Bonnie. However,... I think if Marth is going to be on the jury, I think what would satisfy him is that I can probably help him keep Zelda so that we can all make it to final six, so that it would probably be enough for him to give me his jury vote... So three knights, three emperors basically... Yeah, I think my game at this point is becoming about helping people. They help me, and I do my best to return the favor. ...That gives me enough points for my social game out there."_

_"Zelda helped me on how to adapt out here back on day three, Foxy helped me, I helped **him** by saving Knuckles. Now Marth has helped me, and now I probably need to help both him and Zelda get to final five. I think I'm finally figuring out what me long-term plan is now, rather than just making sure I survive by relying on the back of others when I'm the one who had authority back where I came from. So I think since last tribal, it was about time I started to return the favor."_

"Tell you what." He was now speaking his thoughts to the sword wielder. "If we can both keep Zelda here, than I would help you both. Don't be surprised if you're a target by the Chatan Alliance, but I'll do my best to save you two for as long as I can."

Marth smiled warmly. "Okay. Then in that case, I'd do best to help you stay here in return."

"Emperors _helping_ emperors. That sounds like a relieving concept in my book."

"Absolutely. We'll get through this tribal together, and we'll both make sure that Zelda stays. I am going to talk to her just after this... Shadow a while back told me that guns were the main weapon civilians use to defend themselves. The same goes for you too, right?"

"Any sort of pistol, yes... Did Shadow went on about the details of what those can do?"

"He sure was not hesitant about it..." Marth was now staring off to the side, looking to be a bit horrified. "I have no idea how my people would react..."

_"Aside from me and Freddy finally building our relationship, now I have to worry about my relationship with Zelda. To be honest, I am clueless to what she thinks of me as of now. Sure, she might not seem bitter about the flip, but because of the fact that we're currently on opposite sides of the fence, we've been interacting with one another less these days... which is quite unfortunate... So hopefully with this much needed talk, hopefully she'll trust me again."_

He found her in the water by herself where she was washing her clothes.

"Hello..."

The Hyrulian turned around. "Oh, hi... What brings you here?"

"I just wanted to have a chat..." The only remaining Fire Emblem character sat in the water beside her. "And I sort of wanted to get your attention from afar. You seem to be quite concentrated on doing laundry, so my fear was that if I got to close, I would speak and then you would have been startled."

She chuckled a small laugh. "I am fine... But I figured you are mainly coming to me for strategic reasons."

"Not just that alone." He shook in disagreement. "I also decided to come here just to check on you and to see how you are doing... Nonetheless, since I am already here, I will simply get straight to it... I was not kidding when I said that I was going to make sure you aren't going anywhere anytime soon."

"I remember..."

"..." Marth felt that if he had to make up for his flip on Zelda, he thought that it was not enough, even though he told her that he was going to make it his priority to keep the brunette around. "You know,... even though you might not be in a position of power right now due to others dictating your future (yes, including me...), the _least_ I could do is to allow to have a say in the vote..."

That was when Zelda turned to stare at him with a slightly confounded look. "...What do you mean by that?"

"I am the one that flipped on Greninja. We all know it, including the alliance that I jumped to. To make me feel comfortable, they are going to say things that will work in my favor as well as theirs so that it would make me feel as if I am not on the bottom of the alliance. That being said, in order to use this power to my advantage to have a say in their decision, I am going to tell them on who _you _think we should keep other than yourself..."

"...Okay... _Sheik_, perhaps?" It did not even take Zelda two seconds to suggest a name.

"As you wish." Marth nodded. Although, clearly this meant that he somehow needed to not only persuade his new alliance of five, but to also risk blindsiding Shovel Knight with an idol in his pocket, even given the low possibility that he was not going to play it. Yet then again, to Marth, he was still unaware of who exactly had it. Either Shovel Knight or Sheik.

_"Me and Marth have not been speaking with each other since the Greninja blindside. Sure, this is because of the fact that we're in separate alliances. But, I felt that we've taken a bit of a break from one another. I needed to get over my emotions that night so that I could calmly begin to move forward in the morning. However, I'll be honest when I say that I am not aware of what Marth's overall plan is at this point. Then at the same time, I am listening to everything that he is telling me and I am actually thinking about it. When he asked me of who I wanted to keep here with me, I told him Sheik because she was the only one I bonded with on swapped Chatan, so I am more close to her than Luigi and Shovel Knight. But then right after Marth left, there Sheik came..."_

And that was exactly what happened afterwards.

"I've watched and heard the whole thing."

"Were you hiding?"

"...Well, they don't call me a ninja for a reason." Sheik smirked, yet her smile nimbly lowered to a neutral look. "But anyway, it seems that Marth wants to try and abuse his power over there a little."

She chortled at her joke. "It seems so."

"I gotta admit, though. Pleasing you is the only option he has to try to get on good terms with you to make for the blindside the other night. But over the course of yesterday, I thought that if he was trying to make it up to you, why didn't he just get you to flip with him?"

"We were discussing our position in the game after the Shadow vote. He talked about flipping to the other alliance, but I figured that working with the Chatan Alliance would have been our best option at the time."

"Why exactly?"

"..." Zelda had no intentions on not telling her fellow Hyrulian the truth. "The truth is that... I figured that you guys would trust us more... I wasn't thinking of overall numbers since I knew that me and Marth would have been on the bottom no matter what, but I thought that you would trust us more than the other alliance because at the Shadow vote, we saved Luigi who is part of your alliance. I thought that would earn just enough trust. Yes I know that they have Freddy, and I know that I had a relationship with Freddy as well."

"What was your relationship with him like?" She cocked her head to the side with hands on her hips.

"Well, Freddy actually had some struggling when it came to adapting back in the early days, and he was able to open up to me about it. And then after the Shulk blindside, he came up to me and... You know, now that I think about it, Marth is basically doing the same thing that Freddy was doing right now..."

"...Okay, well here's what I can say..." Since Zelda was sitting, Sheik had to crouch down to her level in order to get closer. "Honestly, Zel, let me just ask you this..."

"Okay?"

"So it sounds like even though you and Marth were both put together in the position that you two were, it also sounds like you became closer with Freddy first. ...But if it came down to those two, who would you rather work with? Freddy or Marth?"

"..."

"_If_ it came down to it. Not saying that it's a guarantee that it is between the two of them tonight."

_"Marth for my game is clearly someone that I can not trust." Sheik remained by the water. "He's a threat. Freddy's a physical player who just played an idol and a really nice guy. He's a threat. Bonnie's also a nice guy, and even though he hasn't seem to have done much so far, he can be also good at physical challenges. So he's a threat. Knuckles, though may not being a threat to win, he's a threat to get to the end. And then we have Foxy, the ringleader of his own alliance, who just won immunity. So it sounds like Marth and Freddy are the main two options, but those other two are options just in case. So to continue to build my relationship with Zelda, I decided to ask on what **she **thinks, and who she thinks would be more trustworthy for **her** game so that I can use it to my advantage. They say you can't go down without a fight, but what if you can actually **win **that fight? I don't know if I can be in the majority again, but nothing is impossible. So here goes nothing..."_

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 30**

* * *

For the twelfth time, Master Hand's castaways made their trip to the Tribal Council, the nine of them going up the stairs to head into the area, placing down their torches as they came in before sitting down in their seats.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury..."

There they came...

"Shulk, Roy, Shadow, and Greninja voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Sheik, Luigi, and Shovel Knight all eye the Pokémon finding his spot in the bench as he sat down making himself comfortable, giving the three of them a smile in return.

Shovel Knight's heart dropped from his chest at that point with guilt.

"Alright," Master Hand jumped right into the discussion. "let's talk about the challenge really quick. Day twenty-nine, you guys were apparently wondering about when is the next reward challenge going to take place, and by the time you all got to the challenge at _night_, you all were surprised to find out that it was actually an _immunity_ challenge."

"But onto the main point, for the first time since Survivor - Cambodia, you guys were welcomed with classic Survivor Folklore. ...Foxy, you have immunity and won that challenge. Second immunity so far this season. ...You like history?"

He initially eyed Master Hand as if he was an actual, _full_ person. "...No, I don't. I _hate_ history."

Nearly everyone including the jury laughed at least a bit.

"But I mean, gotta win immunity of course. And also, that story of Japanese religion was actually kinda interesting. We kinda had no choice but to remember the story in full because that's how we were to get the correct answers."

"Well, _I _hate history and _I_ hardly got anything right." Knuckles commented with a smirk and hunched shoulders.

"Knuckles, remember what I said?" The master asked him.

"..." He sighed. "Listening and paying attention."

"Exactly."

As the group, they shared a laugh once again.

"I guess no matter what situation I'm in, history will never be my thing as long as I live."

"So Shovel Knight, now that Foxy has won immunity, that certainly does not help your options on getting back the majority you all have just lost at all."

"Indeed you're right, master." He agreed a hundred percent. "Guess it is time for me to fully embrace the knight in me... even _literally_. Both for me personally, and this tribe. I even quite _literally_ have the word 'knight' in my name."

"So basically what you're trying to say is that right now it is almost as if now that you're not in the best position as others are, that now is the time for you to live up to who you are in general."

"...Very good point." He admitted. "You know, I don't mean to brag or anything, but I'd say that throughout my life there were quite a few adventures that I've been a part of. Although, it of course wasn't easy at times, and there was one adventure in particular that I really had to fight my through in order to make it. But I did, and someone that is very special did as well. Thus, it gave me enough motivation to try this out to see what I'm made of. I've been doing good so far, but now I've come to a point where I _really_ have to push through now."

"Sheik, what about you? You're on the wrong side of the numbers as well."

"...Well, what exactly can I say? Just because you're on the bottom, doesn't mean that you're eliminated. Literally every single person here has been on the bottom for at least one Tribal Council, so we all now know what it's like even if three of us get to experience it last."

"The three of you, meaning yourself, Shovel Knight, and Luigi..."

"Correct. And based on seasons past, there are clearly ways you can get back the majority." She recalled. "I might not have seen all thirty something seasons of the show, but I simply got word of how people can do it both prior coming out here, and thanks to a friend who informed me quite a couple creative ways of how people get out of these tight situations."

Greninja had a big smile.

"There have been big idol plays, flips, new deals being made, manipulation, you name it. People will do almost _anything_ to pull themselves out of whatever hole they're in. They've all been on the bottom, and so I guess me, Zelda, Luigi, and Shovel are all next in line. Zelda herself has been on the bottom before this season, so she already knows what it's like."

"And Zelda, what exactly _is_ the feeling of being on the bottom?"

"..._Well_, Sheik is correct. I've been on the bottom multiple times throughout the game. And even if I wasn't exactly on the bottom, I was still a target. Me and Peach were targets back on day three after the first immunity challenge, but then Peach left. The next time I went to tribal, my name was written down by Ghirahim, but then he left. When me and Pac were at the bottom back on old Chatan, Pac-Man left. Roy left after Marth played his idol. It seems that every time where I am at a disadvantage, something always seem to come up. So I suppose I somehow always find a way. I am not sure how long I may last in this game, but I have to say that I am impressed that I've actually made it this far after escaping tribal in one piece numerous times."

"Speaking of him, _Marth_, what was your reaction on last tribal? Because it was apparently six against four, Freddy plays his idol on Knuckles, five votes for Knuckles were cast, and five other votes were cast from Greninja. Were you the one that flipped?"

He calmly nodded. "Yes."

Nothing came from the water-type Pokémon but a blinked. Yet Roy was still in a state of disbelief.

"Me and Zelda had to part ways with Shadow for the sake of our own fate, but numbers wise, I figured that I could be an even better position if I jumped ship. Zelda didn't flip, though I did."

"So when you're talking about numbers, you're talking about old Nago numbers and old Chatan numbers. Before Greninja left, there were seven knights and three emperors remaining in the game. You and Zelda were with four old Chatan members while Freddy was with three of them. So basically you were thinking of Freddy and bringing Zelda with you for the sake of reuniting old Nago."

"That was my plan all along. Yes." Everything Master Hand was telling him was indeed correct. "Though Zelda never saw it that way. In her mind, she figured that it was best for us to remain in the Chatan Alliance basically because of us saving Luigi from being blindsided, who is a core member of the alliance."

"So Zelda, based on what Marth is saying, were you thinking more about trust than original numbers?"

"Yes, I was." She nodded in confirmation. "And Master Hand, let me just say this: I was without a doubt well aware of old Nago being a sinking ship at the time. Throughout most of the merge, the emperors were cannibalizing each other by helping the knights get rid of our own. There were literally plans that not even Marth himself knew about. To them, it was already not Emperors vs Knights anymore. So I figured that my strategy from that point on was going to be based on who I trusted and wanted to work with, rather than who I was with at the beginning. Like, this is a modern season of Survivor and this is coming from a person who, like Sheik and Marth, had no technology to watch all the seasons. So I really had to make sure I adapted out here correctly and it has come to my knowledge that old tribe members at times held no hesitation on backstabbing their own, and that was what me and Marth did to Shadow since we figured that he was not meant to be trusted."

"I trust every single person in this Chatan Alliance since they trust me. However," she began with the pointing. "when it comes to the other alliance, even though I trust Freddy, it is not a guarantee that I trust everyone in that alliance because of the fact that the Shadow blindside caused the line to be drawn in the sand."

"Okay, woah, woah, woah..."

All eyes were on Knuckles.

"Let's just stop. Let's just stop for a second..." He had his hand out, actually rotating his entire body just to face Zelda, who was sitting four seats away from him on his right. "I wanna ask you something... How can you say that you don't trust me, Foxy, and Bonnie, when we were the ones that wanted you to come with us in the first place? Shadow over there had the guts to face you and Marth to come to _you_ to give _you both_ an opportunity to work with us, but both of you rejected. Now you're over here sayin' that you don't trust us? Like, I don't mean to be rude, but I fail to see your logic here..."

Shadow actually nodded in agreement on that.

Zelda sighed quietly in response. "When I say that I don't trust you all, what I really mean is that simply because of the side that we chose, later down the line in the future, when it comes to me trusting others, I personally feel that you all might not trust mean after the Shadow vote. The Chatan Alliance on the other hand could continue to trust me in the future because those are the people that I chose to align with. And to you, Foxy, and Bonnie, with all due respect, the line has been drawn in the sand two tribals ago."

"You're good, Zelda." Bonnie spoke up. "I respect that."

"I respect that, too." Foxy replied. "The game moves on."

With Zelda nodding out of relief, Knuckles shook his head.

"So Bonnie, if I'm guessing correctly, you have aligned with Freddy for a while even though the two of you were on different tribes for example." Master Hand brought up. "And that of course means that clearly if your relationship with each other, old tribe alliances are out the window and it's all about you two trusting each other."

"Exactly. Freddy trusts me, Foxy, and Knux, and we all trust him. Sure none of us were a hundred percent certain that we should trust him coming into the merge _because_ he started off on a different tribe, and as talked about before in a previous Tribal Council, the emperors, like the knights, have a certain reputation given the theme of the season. So none of the three of us weren't completely sure on Freddy yet until Shulk was eliminated, and that was when us three, plus Freddy and Shadow became a solidified alliance. ...Okay, maybe Foxy already trusted Freddy because they were on Motobu together. But based on what happened last time, playing his only idol on Knuckles to blindside Greninja was just more proof of his loyalty to us. Zelda trust the Chatan Alliance, we all trust Freddy. So that is why I think I have no reason to have any bitter feelings towards Marth or Zelda for taking out Shadow, since to them, he was untrustworthy."

"Bonnie's smart. I think he's a great speaker..." Shulk mumbled to the other jurors.

"So Freddy, Bonnie's saying that he, Foxy, and Knuckles all trust you after you helped them with their plan, and played your idol on Knuckles as proof of your loyalty. However, as a consequence, you had to betray your own people. Now Marth has betrayed the people that he was with, and now the two of you are aligned together again. Do you feel like you can trust Marth now?"

"Well, I do apologize if this is a lame answer, but I guess as long as the two of us are on the same page, then of course we would trust each other." He bobbed is head up and down. "We generally like each other just how we like Zelda. I still have some level of trust with Zelda, too. The same way how she says that I'm the only one in the alliance that she trusts, naturally, with her being the only remaining emperor on the other side, that's who I trust the most, and same with Marth."

"Three words, master: Survivor is _complicated_." Foxy heaved a breath of fresh air, ignoring a few chuckles from his fellow tribe members. "This is why people strategize every single second, twenty-four hours a day. It is literally non-stop, and I feel as each season passes, the game is becoming more complex than ever before."

"Why do you think that's the case?"

"My guess is that because of people continuing to watch every season, the newer players are trying to prevent the same mistakes that previous contestants have gone through so that _they_ wouldn't have to go through them in order to become better Survivor players. With most players, they only have one chance to play and once chance to win a million dollars. And you know how one mistake can cost your torch to be snuffed? That is why people are constantly talking strategy and calculating the moves not only that they themselves make, but also the moves of others. It's so complicated, though at the same time it's just what makes this game heck of a lot of fun to play."

"Well put." The master commented. "And that's why this game has been going on for such a _long_ time... What a perfect way to end off. Let's see how much trust does this group have, because it is time to vote. Luigi, you're up."

"Master?"

After immediately moving, Master Hand floated the couple inches back towards his seat which basically never needed to exist. Literally everyone in the Tribal Council area all had their eyes fixated on Sheik who was now digging through her bag.

"My apologies, master. I should have had it somewhere where I can just pull it out because I've had it for quite a bit..."

Knuckles the Echidna squinted his eyes out of confusion and astonishment.

"Here we go." Sheik finally pulled out what he was looking for. "Like I said. No matter the type of hole that you're in, you can always find ways to crawl yourself back out. Here's my way of overcoming this obstacle: I have a Secret Advantage that is still in play up until the final six, and with this advantage, I am allowed to _steal_ someone's vote, in that way that person will _not_ be voting at this tribal, and that I will be voting twice tonight."

Words alone were never enough to describe it. The jury, Freddy, Marth, Foxy, Knuckles, and Bonnie were all completely staggered. Greninja himself was quite dumbfounded. No words were spoken, whatsoever.

"Alright. You heard her." Master Hand went on to explain to the rest of the competitors. "Sheik has a Secret Advantage that is called a 'Steal-A-Vote', in which gives the power to take away someone's vote so that she will vote twice."

"...You've got to be kidding me..." Knuckles buried his face in his hands.

"So Sheik, who's vote are you going to steal?"

"I would like to steal... Marth's vote."

Marth immediately faced her with a look as if he was a deer caught in her headlights, even though Sheik never really drove a car before.

But then suddenly, Marth began digging his bag himself.

"Master?"

As if things were not already crazy enough.

Now it was Roy that was in a state of shock, let alone everyone else. Though unlike last time, everyone except Sheik herself were astounded.

"Oh my god..." Freddy breathed.

"Like Sheik, I also have a Secret Advantage." He pulled his out. "Although, this advantage specifically states that I have no right to open the advantage until Tribal Council after you announce that it is time to vote. Also like Sheik's, it can be played up until and through the final six. I was planning on using this some time later, closer to the final six, but clearly now is where it is most necessary. Therefore, I will be opening the advantage now..."

...

Everyone watched as Marth Lowell unclipped a solid black box containing the envelope that contained the Secret Advantage.

"Alright..." He cleared his throat as he began to read. "This advantage is being used to... _block_ your vote..."

Things just kept getting better.

"...that will prevent you from voting at Tribal Council tonight..."

Astonished like there was no tomorrow, Luigi gradually shifted his head to the master, looking somewhat confused.

"Wait a minute..." Foxy spoke. "So if Sheik already played _her_ advantage, than what about Marth's advantage?"

"Let me just make this clear." Master Hand explained. "Marth, you clearly know that Sheik has played her advantage that steals your vote, already preventing you from voting at the urn. _Your_ vote is now hers. Now if you have played your advantage before her, than Sheik can not take your vote. But Sheik has already taken your vote away, which is now hers, which then just provoked to play an advantage that blocks your vote. You are the one who received that advantage and therefore, _you _would be the only one that can't physically vote tonight. However, your vote was already stolen and because of that, Marth,... your 'advantage' is basically useless..."

...

Absolutely flabbergasting.

"I need to tell Marth something really quick..."

Sheik got up from her seat and made her way over to the Marth, use her advantage to cover up whatever she had to say, and whisper in Marth's ear.

"I am going to give you a choice. You can either come with us, or I will use this advantage to vote you out of this game."

While that was going on, Foxy leaned over to whisper to Knuckles.

"We need to swing over Zelda. Marth's still on our side. If we can get Zelda to jump ship, we would still make it a 5-4 in our favor and counter the advantage. Go tell Marth to talk to Zelda."

He immediately done what he was told and the echidna literally pulled Marth away from Sheik and spoke with him directly.

Sheik then went back over and whisper to Marth and Luigi while the jury was looking all over the place at what was happening.

"So is our plan still the same?" Freddy was whispering with Bonnie. "Shovel Knight?"

"I... I'm not sure now at this point..." Roberts for the first time appeared to be very worried. "Do you think they'll think that we'll try to outsmart them?"

"Okay, I will." Marth answered to Knuckles, now pulling Zelda off to the side (not literally this time). "Are you sure these are the people you desire to be with? Even with Sheik's advantage, with you, we can still have the majority to vote one member of the Chatan Alliance off."

"Okay... Who do you think will be our best option?"

"Zelda?" Now Freddy wanted her attention. "You still have a chance to come with us. We'll all make it through the night and I will protect the both of you. Me and Marth already talked by the water well. You can still come with us."

Before Marth could have done anything else, he was approached by Bonnie.

"What did Sheik tell you?"

Shovel Knight and Luigi, who were the only two that never got up from their seats at the time, were busy having their own conversation.

"Do you think this plan will work?"

"Hopefully..." Shovel Knight wanted to reassure Luigi with all of his heart. Yet he seemed to be rather nervous himself. "Hopefully it does, because otherwise, I'm playing my idol..."

"Suddenly I'm glad to be on the jury, now..." Shulk commented on everything that was occurring before him. "We get a free ticket to Tribal Council. Now all we need are the drinks and snacks."

"_ is done..." said Shadow.

"So, what do we do? Who are we voting for?" Bonnie was now speaking with Foxy. "Do we just vote off Sheik?"

"No..." He declined. "Zelda is tight with her and doesn't want her to go, and either she or Shovel Knight could play the idol..."

"Dang it, man..."

He sighed in frustration. "Okay, do we just vote off Luigi and get it over with? At least someone over there will be gone..."

"Whoever of the three you think, I'll put down..."

"Marth? Zelda?" Michaels was now motioning them his way.

By the time Marth heard what Bonnie and Foxy had to say, he rotated his body around to see Sheik standing literally right beside him to his right.

"Have you decided? Are you with us?"

...

With a few more private conversations with each other, the volume of the tribal was near silent once again.

"Okay..." Master Hand took a breather. "Everybody is now back in their seats... Are we actually ready to vote _this _time?"

Various answers of 'yes' were given.

"Alright, then... It is time to vote. Luigi, you're up."

"Phew..." Luigi wiped sweat from his forehead, slowly making his way past the eight eyes of the current four members of the jury and to the urn.

"All I can say is that if the plan I've been told is not happening tonight, I don't know how much longer I would be here..."

Right after Knuckles, it was already Sheik's turn to vote. Following her casting her first vote into the urn, she unfolded a somewhat fancier piece of parchment and began writing once more, before casting her second vote in.

Marth could have only watched.

Zelda and Shovel Knight were the next to go, with Bonnie coming afterwards.

"This is what I have to say: Marth, I feel sorry for you. Your useless advantage has actually been made even _more_ useless. You've been hit _hard_, my friend."

Freddy held up his piece of parchment up.

"I really hope you're the one that's going home tonight... I feel like I'm about to have a panic attack right at Tribal Council... Here goes nothing..."

Once Foxy made it back to his seat to sit down, Master Hand was ready.

"I'll go tall the votes..."

Unlike all the previous Tribal Councils, not a single individual had their eyes on Master Hand, nor even at another survivor castaway. Literally all nine of them were so worried of how the vote was going to turn out, none of them bothered to look with one another.

The hand came back. "If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so."

...

The jury watched, but no one seemed to be planning to pull anything out from anywhere. And in the end, Shovel Knight never changed his mind as he remained still, everyone's blank facial expression remaining consistent for the reading of the votes.

"Alright. Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

…

"First vote..."

Roy, Shulk, and Greninja all leaned in.

"...Luigi."

Not even a blink.

"Luigi."

...

"Luigi. Three votes Luigi."

...

"...Freddy."

No movement was made from the bear.

"Freddy. Two votes Freddy."

Roy had a hand over his mouth.

"Freddy. Three votes Freddy, three votes Luigi."

Foxy's eyes remained focused on the names, Luigi feeling a major pit in his stomach while Marth sat still the entire time.

"...Freddy. Four votes Freddy, three votes Luigi."

Knuckles had his lips curled up.

"...Luigi. Tied again. Four votes Luigi, four votes Freddy, one vote left..."

Shadow could not have looked anymore interested than he was. Sheik, with one fist underneath her chin, had her head leaning against it as if she was as still as a statue.

"Twelfth person voted out of Survivor and the fifth member of our jury..."

Marth waited.

"...Freddy."

With no emotion, Fazbear calmly stood up from his spot.'

Foxy almost instantly clapped a hand over his face.

"Props to Sheik. That's all I have to say..."

Greninja's mouth was still hung open.

Unlike Foxy, both of Knuckles's hands were over his face.

Sheik rotated her head to make a single not at Zelda.

"Freddy, the tribe has spoken."

With one snuff, his fire was officially gone.

"Time for you to go."

Without being asked twice, he calmly made his way down the stairs.

Bonnie exhaled greatly, though quietly.

"Well,..." Even the master was struggling to find words to describe the event. "like I said... You guys are talented at blindsides. ...Now what? Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight..."

* * *

**#WOW**

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Freddy**

**Freddy**** \- Luigi**

**Luigi** -** Freddy**

**Sheik** -** Freddy (x2)**

**Knuckles**** \- Luigi**

**Shovel Knight** \- **Freddy**

**Bonnie**** \- Luigi**

**Foxy**** \- Luigi**

* * *

_"Well... I don't think this is how I preferred to get voted out the game if I was ever to get blindsided... Dang, Sheik. Haha! I have no idea where Marth got that voting block from, but my guess is that Sheik had that advantage too and actually knew what it was, and was allowed to give the advantage to somebody else so that they can read it at Tribal Council. But anyway, I enjoyed myself. Didn't get to do everything I wanted, which was to win of course, but hey, I didn't even expect to make it this far, so I'm still proud of myself."_

* * *

**...**

**Sheik happened. That is all. (Dang... I think this is what happens when you let ninjas play Survivor lol. Like a _ boss_.) She basically forced Marth to flip or she literally would have voted him out right there on the spot. What a devious play. But it worked lol. Now if Marth is truly not working with the Pirate Crew anymore, that means Sheik is not only back in the majority, but that means that Marth would have flipped again without even voting lol, though it didn't even matter if he didn't even want to flip back, or else Sheik would have cut him off lol. I don't think that something like this has ever happened before. Sheik really lived up to her tribe name here. Poor Marth. Sheik played him like a fiddle and Freddy paid the price. But I gotta say this is absolutely my favorite "episode" of this season so far. We had that surprise Folklore challenge, the strategy that occurred today, and now one of my favorite Tribal Councils of my entire series! (Don't know if it's my absolute favorite yet since there are already so many tribals... I'll think about it.)**

**Tifa from Final Fantasy 7 is going to be on the Brawn tribe for Survivor - Mexico! (She was one of the last minute additions. Final Fantasy 7 already barely has any sort of representation in Smash, and I think that Tifa is a strong female based on what little I played of FF7 (I need to get back on it.))**

**Questions:**

**1\. What do you think of this Tribal Council?**

**2\. What do you think is the biggest blindside of the season thus far?**

**Vote for your top five characters, watch my Emperors vs Knights YouTube intro, and I encourage everyone to review! Freddy's Ponderosa chapter will be up soon!**


	38. Chapter 38: Day 31 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 38 - Day 31 Part 1

***Deep heavy sigh***

**Alright... Had to take a big breather here. Time to calm down after the last Tribal Council. I've just gotta say something. This cast is **_**smart**_**. Let's just leave it at that.**

**Today, day 31 where we are going to have another challenge. ...I don't have that much to say in the intros at this point, do I? (Lol) Character reveal at the end as usual for Survivor - Mexico.**

_**Derick Lindsey:**_** Yeah, that was actually a mistake that I noticed minutes after your review (I thought I removed that vote earlier but apparently not). Though it was a simple fix, so I just removed who Marth voted for and that was it. But thanks for pointing that out! What I usually do at the end when I reveal the votes, I copy and pasted the names of the castaways from the previous tribal and work from there, and I forgot to edit Marth's name out, so that's probably where it went wrong, so hopefully this clears up everything. **

_**Historyfan15: **_**Yeah. Sheik is a boss. Let's just say that. I bet even she herself didn't even expect to take away Marth's vote knowing that he already had an advantage of hers anyway. I don't think anyone was literally forced to work with another alliance before. But first time for everything, I suppose. Poor Marth probably feels at least a bit of humiliation from that... I wonder what his game is from this point now?**

**(Just one more thing to say: Survivor - Kodai Island is now my second most viewed fic of all time after me being here for more than eight years. This is quite a major accomplishment. Words can't describe how grateful for all of you who took the time to read it! It has over 18,000 views and it is my longest, most reviewed fanfic of all time. Just... thank you lol.)**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 30**

* * *

_Luigi, Bonnie, Sheik, Shovel Knight, Marth, Foxy, Zelda, Knuckles_

-/-

...

One would not have wished to be part of the line that was heading back to camp that night from Tribal Council. It would have been quite an intense feeling, for sure.

Yet soon as everyone laid down their torches, it never took long for the group of nine to separate at all.

"Well..." Bonnie was with Foxy and Knuckles by the beach, neither of two having anything to say for the first several seconds he was there in spite of having a million possible things to spill from their mouths.

"Freddy's gone..." Foxy mumbled. "Forget about not only being on the bottom. I'm just on the fact that Freddy's gone..."

Knuckles still refused to utter a word.

_"I was too upset that Freddy's gone, more than I was upset that I'm back on the bottom again... Guess it took me the whole night to finally realize that I am in fact on the bottom, now... But I guess given my history with him in the game, I guess it goes to show how much I actually really cared and liked him..." Foxy felt like he just lost someone very closet to him. "I mean, sure I helped him first, but he's helped me as well, but now he's not here anymore..."_

Knuckles finally spoke up. "That's it... We're right back where we started... We're gonna get picked off... _One by one_..."

"Sucks man..." Foxy buried his face in his hands. "He's gone and now I'm next..."

"It does..." Bonnie replied. "I might not have been as much time with him as you did, but I liked that guy too and I did not want him going anywhere yet..."

_"Oh, Goddesses... Guess what? I'm not on the bottom anymore!" Sheik laughed. "Like, I myself can't believe it. We didn't even need Shovel Knight's idol tonight because I had my advantage. ...No, I had **two **advantages. I took Marth's vote so that he had no power to do anything and questioned his loyalty right there. __...Sure, Marth's vote would have already been blocked, anyway, but hey, that's who Zelda wanted to stay. If she wanted Freddy to stay, then I would have took his vote to test his loyalty, because I was not kidding when I told Marth at Tribal Council that if he refused to join us, we all would have voted him out right then and there. So, Marth? I really hope you actually mean it, because if I find out that he's turning on me again, I'm going to follow through and vote him off next. He's kind of like our prisoner here, haha."_

"Well, you did it..." Zelda was now sitting down with the ninja in the shelter.

"No..." She shook her head in response. "_We_ did it. You were the one who told me who you wanted to stay, and I followed through with the plan. Marth decided that he was going to work with us, and we made sure he stayed by voting Freddy out instead."

"Alright, but still..." She look at her fellow Hyrulian in the eyes. "..._Thank you_..."

"No problem."

_"With me being a ninja, whenever you're on a mission, you make sure to get the job done. My goal tonight was to pull myself out of the hole my alliance was in since we were at the bottom of the totem pole, and guess what? Mission accomplished. Now Marth has no choice but to stay loyal to us, or else he's gonna be a target, because then we would find out that he's proving to be untrustworthy. Trust was the main topic of the discussion at tribal, anyway."_

Unlike everybody else, Marth at the time was the only character by himself, simply eyeing the campfire that Shovel Knight started.

_"So clearly, last night never went as planned... I've made a last ditch effort to get Zelda to turn on the Chatan Alliance and send Luigi to the jury, yet it never worked. Now Freddy is gone, and me and Zelda are the only two emperors remaining. Yet for me personally, right now it's the least of my problems..."_

"I just can't believe that I was almost sent home... _again_." Luigi laughed sarcastically with Sheik and Shovel Knight, rubbing his face out of distress. "Was I the safe target to them again?"

"Probably so. They don't know if me or Shovel has the idol."

"Mamma Mia..."

_"I felt as if I was pushed into a corner with a sword to my throat after failing to defeat my enemies, I was given an opportunity to either surrender or perish right on the battlefield..." Lowell was silent for a bit. "...And even though I wished to keep fighting, based on the circumstances, I chose to surrender... Now I'm forced to be in with the enemy. Keep in mind, it was a brilliant move. No doubt... But I have to suffer the consequences for it... I... I need to get to sleep. My head is starting to be quite in a bit of pain now..."_

**_BOOM!_**

"Ugh..." Knuckles's voice sounded as it was now downpouring on the shelter within a time span of ninety seconds. "Not _this_ again..."

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 31**

* * *

Although the downpour lasted all the way through the night and for the first few hours in the morning, it only started to simply sprinkle about five minutes prior. The castaways were all huddled up in the shelter, attempting to stay as warm as possible, while either complaining quietly to themselves or in their minds.

"I'm _freezing_..." Luigi mumbled, him greatly embracing his knees.

"Ditto..." Knuckles replied, curled up as he lied down. "And this is coming from a furry..."

Foxy snickered, in a similar pose as Luigi.

_"This is the worst storm I've had for my Survivor adventure. I mean, even though me, Knuckles, Zelda, and Shovel Knight were gloves most of the time, are hands are still soaked. But Foxy, Marth, Bonnie, and Sheik's hands are all water-logged. ...And then, when Mario came back from Kodai Island, he told me that in his season, they only had a major storm like the one we just had **once**. This season, we've had big storms at least five times. Maybe more, maybe less. I dunno…"_

"To be honest, I'm surprised that we were even allowed to bring gloves out here." Shovel Knight admitted. "Knowing the rules, we could only bring so much. I heard that in Pearl Islands, they were only allowed to have the clothes on their backs."

"We'd better get tree mail soon." Zelda suggested. "Right now would be the perfect time to do it in case it's going to come down pouring again."

"Agreed. I'll go with you."

_"Strategy wise though, last night was intense. I mean, Sheik already told me about her advantage right before Tribal Council, but I didn't know about the other advantage that she apparently gave to Marth during the swap. And then I guess the other alliance just chose to target me last minute. So as a result, I was almost voted out of the game **again**. …Like, sometimes I'm surprised that I'm still even here in the first place. If something like this happens again, I don't think that I'll even be their 'safe vote' anymore, because my name has been written down more than Shovel Knight, Sheik, and even Greninja's combined. Shovel and Sheik have even yet to have their names written down! ...I dunno. Maybe if I end up somehow winning the last five immunity challenges until the finals, my name will never be written down again. I'm probably speaking for every Survivor player that's ever been voted off by saying this. Whenever your name comes up at tribal, you are hit with a ton of bricks. My name was written down four times last night, the other five, and the first tribal I've been to, three times. So that would mean that I've been struck..." He did the math in both his head and his fingers standing in the forest. "...**tw****elve** times with bricks... **Ouch**... It's a wonder why I'm still in this game..."_

* * *

**Day 31**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The final eight of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights made their way to a brand new Survivor challenge, and it appeared to be some sort of obstacle course across the water.

However, at the time, Master Hand had something else in mind that he wanted to discuss first.

"Alright, now before we begin this next reward challenge,... Shovel Knight, ready to see Shield Knight?"

Every last castaway immediately stood there in total silence with looks of astonishment.

"Shield Knight, come on out!"

With Shovel still in a state of shock, with one head turn, there came the one and only partner that he often discussed with his tribemates. Lo and behold, Shield Knight officially made it to the Loved Ones visit on Kodai Island.

And with no words, Shovel actually began running himself until the two happily embraced, emotional looks appearing on the faces of the knight's fellow contestants.

"Feels nice to have a loved one with you, isn't it?" Master Hand asked.

"Hi, Shield Knight!" Sheik introduced. "Welcome to Okinawa!"

"So, Shovel Knight," The Survivor host questioned. "throughout the season I've been hearing rumors that you apparently sit at the campfire at night and tell people all about Shield Knight and the adventures you two shared together. That's true, right?"

When the two finally broke the hug, the blue knight finally formed words to speak. "Absolutely, master. There isn't a single day that I do not think of her. ...You know, I didn't really want to leave her behind knowing that I'm going to be competing out here to try and become the Sole Survivor. ...But Shield Knight actually encouraged me to go for it, because she knows how much this adventure means to me, after I've been out on so many... Uh... Forgive me for sounding selfish."

Absolutely everyone standing around him, including Shield Knight, disagreed in response.

"Thank you..." He replied. "...But basically, what I'm trying to say is that I... almost never go out on adventures alone. And when I don't, when you have close allies you rely on Survivor, this knight right here has been, is, and always will be my number one ally in real life for as long as I live. If it weren't for her, I'd be rather lonely most of the time. So,... bringing her out here is another thing I can check off my list, since we both can't compete on the show at the same time for numerous reasons, this Loved Ones visit proves that she can still be a part of this adventure, especially if I find myself winning this thing, which will be for the both of us."

"Well Shield Knight,..." Master Hand took the time to talk to Shovel Knight's partner directly. "_I _would like to say that we're simply glad you're out here. I'm pretty sure everybody else here is glad to finally see you as well."

"Thank you for having me out here. I might not be playing, but still in a way, this _is_ a dream that just came true."

She moved over to the bench nearby and sat down as Shovel Knight moved back to his place.

"Alright, Sheik. You're next... _Impa_, come on out!"

All with curiosity, all eyed the pathway that led out of the jungle where they all witnessed a tall, light blonde haired woman with tanned skin emerge, dashing her way right to Sheik to share a friendly embrace.

"Told ya I'll make it this far!"

A couple castaways smirked and even chuckled a little.

"Okay, let's get right to it. Sheik, why don't you tell us who this is?" Master Hand suggested.

"This is actually... my biggest inspiration of who I am today." The ninja elaborated. "Like myself, she is a member of the Sheikah, too. But I've known her since I was... a little girl, and from the moment I saw her, I knew I wanted to be like her. So since at a young age I was constantly training myself just to become a ninja, and she showed me all of her tricks. It was a struggle at times, but... look at me now."

"And also, I am slowly gaining in years." Impa admitted, having her arm around Sheik's shoulder. "Sheik is one of the best students I've ever had, but I see her more than that, like family in a way. Maybe one day when the timing is right, I can pass my torch down onto her, and she'll continue what she does best."

"She's helped me achieve so much since I became a ninja, now in return I'm bringing her out here on Survivor." Sheik stated.

"Alright, Impa. Take a spot on the bench next to Shield Knight..."

Suddenly Shovel Knight began to feel guilty a bit.

The master was now exchanging glances with the six remaining survivors.

"Okay, Foxy. You're next."

He suddenly began clapping loudly. "Let's do it!"

"Let's get your friend out here!"

Before her name was even called, a white, female vixen came dashing from the trees, with arms already opened. Quickly catching the sign, Foxy's own arms opened in return as the two successfully embraced, even Michaels managing to lift her from the ground a bit sharing a laugh, much to his fellow contestants' own humor.

Knuckles blinked. "...They're not-..."

"Alright, everybody." Foxy knew he had some explaining to do. "I'll introduce her to you guys. This right here is a great friend of mine. She's been my co-worker for the longest, but... we've known each other since we were kids. Her name is Valery Ramos, but I guess for a nickname, you can call her 'Mangle.'"

"Basically what it means is that I will cut down anyone who stands in my way." She joked. "Not literally of course. Great name for a pirate, right?"

Before anyone else had the chance to laugh, Foxy had one last thing to say before anyone thought too much. "And just so you know, we're _just friends_."

That was when almost everyone giggled out loud, with Knuckles now looking dumbfounded. "Oh..."

"So Foxy, you just said that you two have known each other for quite a bit, and now you all are co-workers... But more specifically, Foxy, you are... sort of an emperor in your own right since you are the boss after all, so you've basically hired her."

"Well, there's more to that story." And he indeed cared to elaborate. "You see, before I successfully managed to get on my feet, Val was there the whole way when it came to doing so. I mean, sure I basically hired her, but, she knew that since I was going to be the boss, she actually volunteered to become my assistant manager, and then, fast forward to now I guess. All I know is that it's safe to say that you shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. I don't know where I'll be if it weren't for her."

"Alright, 'Mangle.'" Master called her by the name she preferred. "You can take a spot on the bench over there."

As she left, the hand was now 'glancing' at Marth Lowell. "So Marth, now it's your turn. I've heard that you really wanted to at least make this Loved Ones visit and here you are. ...Elice, get out here!"

Marth's older sister wasted no time in dashing to her younger brother, nimbly hugging Marth with her eyes filled with tears, causing her sibling to form his own.

"W-What a relief..." He said, finding it rather hard to let go of the blood he shared with, especially given the fact that judging by her reaction of seeing him after a month, she clearly was in an emotional state.

"So Marth, like Shovel Knight, you also came out here for the adventure, as you said it is your biggest priority when it comes to Survivor. ...Would you like to take a moment to share with your sister and what it's like thus far?"

"...T-...This experience..." Being emotional as well, he took some time forming his words, finally calmly letting go of Elice. "It seems that for everyone, we all have our own highs and lows out here that basically define us for who we are. There are some that are used to taking control, while others are used to struggling in order _to_ taking control of their own fate. Over the past thirty-one days, there hasn't been a single day out here where I have not thought about the theme at least once. Based on my personal experience, I've really took the time to learn about myself as well as the people around me of course. This was indeed a perfect opportunity to test myself. My worst fear of course was being the first eliminated from the competition in a battle such as this... So to know that I've made it this far, like all the other adventures I've had back in Altea, once this is over, yet another chapter in my life will be complete. ...Sister,... I apologize for me once again leaving you for so long..."

She immediately shook her head in disagreement. "No need to apologize if you just have the desire to test yourself. I've watched you grow and now look how far you've come. ...And even though I get to myself to think of you, one thing that I always think of is that you've come such a long way... And I wanted you to know that."

"Aw..." Bonnie mumbled with a warm smile with everyone watching two hugging it out once more.

"Well, it's a good thing to know that you will be watching your brother compete in this challenge, Elice." Master Hand reminded her before sending her to the bench. "So Bonnie, based on who _you_ are expecting to be here, there is not just one sibling who is out here for one of you. Let's get your bro. Clyde, you ready?"

He did indeed look like Bonnie, with the exception of the lighter shade of blue, and both a bit smaller and younger in height. Unlike Foxy with Mangle, Bonnie managed to completely lift his brother off the ground to hug it out, setting him down almost a dozen seconds later.

"Just for the record, Bonnie, how old is he?"

"He's fifteen." He replied.

"Haven't had anyone this young out for the Loved Ones visit in a while." He recalled. "...But Clyde, I have something that I wanna ask you too. You're in high school, right?"

"Yeah, I am." He nodded.

"...What did your classmates say?"

"Well,... they're jealous for the most part." Clyde laughed with Bonnie rubbing his shoulder. "And even the ones that had no idea about Survivor now _know_ about Survivor thanks to him, and now they're getting into the show and a few of them are either encouraging their family members to apply for it and waiting until they're old enough to apply for it themselves."

"Okay, well I do have to say that of course, the younger generation also matters when it comes to the fanbase."

Nearly everyone laughed.

"It really does, because without the younger generation, then that basically means that eventually less people are gonna try Survivor out." He explained logically even though it was somewhat humorous to the contestants. "So Bonnie, it was a great thing that we were able to get your younger brother out here to talk about it, because for all we know, there could be someone at his school that would eventually be on the show to experience what you're experiencing right now."

"It really is something, master. Thank you for giving him the opportunity to be out here..." And then he took a brief moment to eye Clyde. "How are our parents doing?"

"They're doing fine."

"Alright, then." He giggled a bit, before his brother was asked to head over to the bench.

"So... _three people left_..." He noted. "...Let's do Zelda first..."

She put her hands over her mouth.

"And we got someone special... Come on out!"

Zelda's fellow, pointy-eared Hyrulian friend came out, gradually making her way towards her, his eyes focusing on no one else's. Before he even got to her, a major storm was already forming in her eyes, causing his own to do the same as well.

By the time they reached each other, they simply fell into each other's arms, literally every other fellow contestant of Zelda's clapping in reaction.

"Beautiful..." Bonnie commented.

"_Link_..." Master Hand started to speak. "Welcome back. Fresh out of Survivor - Kodai Island. This is the first time since Survivor - Game Changers where we brought someone back for the Loved Ones visit that has actually played this game... And Link just played last season. What also makes this great, for _you_, Link, is that you are now standing on the exact island that you competed on when you played Survivor... Brings back strong memories. Doesn't it?"

For the first several seconds, he initially never spoke a word at all, let alone him having a hard time breaking up from Zelda. Though he did eventually. "...Yeah... Strong memories indeed, m-master. ...It feels really good to see you again. I feel like I'm about to begin my second adventure here. But it's not for me. This time, this Survivor experience is all for _her_."

"I-I'm... I'm just happy that I've made this far." Zelda began speaking herself, starting to wipe her tears away. "Each and every day I'm out here I'm still astonished of myself somehow making it this far despite the obstacles I had to face. I feel like I really had to fight through just to get to this point, and we're only one day thirty-one. Sure, these are the final days of the game, but it's still not over. Sometimes you feel as if you have no idea how you are going to continue to push yourself and fight just to remain one extra day longer in this competition, since there is a certain amount of strength you must have. And I haven't won immunity, nor find an idol the entire time I was out here, yet... here I am... And thanks to Link, I now have just enough motivation needed _so_ that I can continue to push myself and remain out here as long as I can... even if my torch gets snuffed last minute... Bringing Link back out here alone is an accomplishment within itself..."

Link immediately embraced her once her words were spoken. "Just keep hanging on... I'm right here..."

"Alright, Link. You can take your spot on the bench." The hand dismissed him. "...But we are done, yet. Knuckles, I can just tell by the look on your face that you're ready for me to bring him here. ...Get out here!"

With footsteps being heard dashing towards the contestants, a blue blur emerged from the jungle and before one could have even thought, by the time he hugged Knuckles, the echidna was hit was so much force he almost fell down.

"Link isn't the only one from Kodai Island that is out here." Master Hand brought up. "Sonic is very happy to be here, too. Now for the first time in Survivor history, we have more than one former contestant out here for the Loved Ones visit."

"I did it. Didn't I?" Knuckles was already questioning his fellow Mobian. "I made it all the way to eight. Five more tribals to go, right?"

"Well, I expected the Loved Ones visit to be a bit sooner, but you still made it anyway, so I suppose that's what matters." Sonic replied as he soon broke up the hug. "I have a lot to talk about when I get back with Tails on Mobius."

"So, let's get right to it... Sonic, first of all, welcome back of course. You are without a doubt, familiar with this place like Link."

"Oh, yeah." The hedgehog almost forgot, directing his attention to the bench. "'Sup, Link? Been a while."

"Likewise." He commented with a smirk.

"But anyway, yeah. Felt like it was just yesterday when we all started on this island." He recalled immediately. "I already remember hearing you say the word 'go' on day three... Kinda surreal now, but... I guess I got lucky I had the chance to come out here again even though I've played before."

"Yet another memory to add." Master Hand 'nodded'. "I mean, Sonic, you and Knuckles, are not only both part of the Survivor family now, you two have actually been... best friends for over a _decade_."

That caused quite a few eyes to be widened from a few of Knuckles's competitors.

"What an amazing history they must have together..." said Sheik.

"Well,... just to clarify master, we were basically rivals at first, but then became close friends afterwards." Sonic corrected him.

"...Well okay, that still counts." He responded. "Though I'm pretty sure that you two are aware of how amazing it is to have two close friends, both be out here, not only both playing the game, but both of you at this spot right now. What are the odds? If that's not friendship, I don't know what is."

"Perfect way to put it... I... Sorry..."

Everyone watched. For the first time, Knuckles was seen wiping away a tear.

"Aww..." said Sheik.

Shovel Knight blinked. "Well _ this_ is new."

Zelda laughed a little. "Nobody on this island has seen Knuckles cry _once_."

"He's trying his best to fight it, too..." Foxy noticed.

"Dude, it's okay..." Sonic spoke more quietly. "If you gotta let it out, do it. No one's stopping you..."

"I'm sorry, it's just... I don't wanna say too much when I'm out here like this, but... I... I just wanted to say thanks. Sonic was one of the first few people that shown to generally care for me. I'm sure like some of the others here, my past hasn't been the brightest, but... thanks to this guy right here," He placed on Sonic's shoulder. "...he's one of the people who's making my future brighter. And the future that I see looks quite nice if I do say so myself... whether if I win or not. I wanted to get out here to test myself, Sonic beat me to it, but that was what really made me get out here. ...I... honestly don't know where I'd be if it wasn't for Sonic and I don't tell him this much, but... now seems a good time, you know?"

"Thank you, Knuckles..." He looked at him straight in the eyes. "I really appreciate it. My future looks bright thanks to you, too."

By the time Sonic sat down next to Link, that meant the only person Master Hand had remaining was Luigi of all people.

"Now Luigi, I'm pretty sure we all know who you are expecting to bring out here. Remember when I said this is the first time in Survivor history where more than one former contestant is out here for the Loved Ones visit? Let's get a third former contestant _from the same season_ out here, _right now_. Now's your cue, Mario!"

Based on his story, obviously it was the grand moment Luigi was waiting for. He was able to get his legendary big brother out on the island for the Loved Ones visit. And the moment he emerged from the trees, the taller one felt as though he could have leapt five hundred feet into the air.

Without a doubt, it was the biggest embrace of all. And to top it all off, other than the noise from the beach and the birds that were passing by, there was nothing but silence...

...until Luigi started to sniff, finally breaking away to introduce his brother to the others at long last.

"T-This is why I-I'm here. This is w-why I decided to come out here. Even though I've told you all of what I need to do t-to prove to myself out here, at the same time, I would literally be _nothing_ if it wasn't for him. ...You know, they say that sometimes the older ones aren't the most memorable because sometimes the older siblings can be bad examples for the younger ones... But as if you can't already tell, _my_ older brother is the exact opposite. He was the one that gave me the extra push that I needed. H-He told me that since he was going to apply, that I should apply as well to increase my chances. ...But we both got called over, and they took him first just so they can save me for this season. ...Though the bottom line is that... He's my emperor in my opinion. There isn't anything Mario can't do. And he will always be my biggest inspiration as long as I live."

That literally earned Luigi a round of applause, as it was now Mario himself who was covering his face to hide tears before he even had the chance to speak at all.

Though Mario knew he just had to say something eventually. "...T-thank you... T-Thank you, Luigi..."

Even if it was all he had to say at first. Sonic and Link watched from afar.

"...I don't know if I... r-really have that much to say, because there are so many words that are flowing through my mind at the moment..." Mario said with honesty. "...So the least I can do is to just take a moment to thank my younger brother... I know why he's out here, and he knows it as well. Whenever we go on adventures and everything, he's... my number one ally in real life. I always come to him first... and part of that is to give him that chance and to give him that courage to keep him going... and Luigi, what I really want to say is that... you've probably heard this before many times, but... it doesn't make it any less important... I love you."

"I love you too."

They embraced once more.

"Brotherly love at its finest..." Master Hand summarized, calmly requesting his former Survivor contestant to head on over to join the other loved ones. "...Now... this has gotta be one of the most emotional Loved Ones visits ever in Survivor. And you know what? Whether what people make of it, it really highlights the growth with each and every one of you of why you were all put here to compete on the show, no matter what your stories are... Are you all willing to show that newfound strength in this brand new Survivor challenge we got here?"

It was almost as if an entire large crowd erupted with anticipation.

"Let's get cracking... For today's challenge, you will each have a partner to perform in this challenge with. Similar to the first immunity challenge this season, you wil both be hooked together by a rope as you go over a series of obstacles in the water. First, you will quickly dash along the wooden lily pads in the water, before you all will balance as you cross a large, rectangular obstacle that will turn over and send you to the water if you're not careful. Afterwards, you both are to balance on a very narrow balance beam where you will approach a combination lock, which you have to solve. Once you figured it out and solved it, you will pull the handle out, head back to across all three obstacles over the water, reach the shore where you will break a tile, confirming your victory. Simple. First pair that finishes first gets to spend time with their loved ones. However, with the exception of the lily pads since they are right on the water, if you fall at any point during the challenge, you have to start with that obstacle, all over again. We'll draw for pairs, and we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, we have our pairs..." Master Hand was ready. "It is going to be Knuckles with Sheik, Bonnie with Foxy, Marth with Luigi, and Zelda with Shovel Knight. For reward. Survivors ready?"

The fourth pairs were getting in running positions to prepare themselves.

"..._**GO!**_"

Right on cue, the survivor's loved ones all began cheering from the bench, all standing on their feet watching them all perform. The leader of the pairs were Sheik, Bonnie, Marth, and Zelda.

"First you gotta run across those lily pads. You sink in the water, you two might as well swim the rest of the way. ...Sheik and Bonnie are _flying _through this. Their partners are having no trouble keeping up!"

In contrast, Marth, Luigi, and Zelda all fell in, forcing Shovel to fall in as well.

"Ugh..." Marth was already a little annoyed, beginning to swim immediately. "Come on, Luigi..."

"You got it, Marth!" Elice had her hands over her mouth.

"Knuckles, Sheik, Bonnie, and Foxy are already on their second obstacle."

"Good job, Knux!" Sonic voiced.

"Attagirl, Sheik!" Impa shouted. "You go this!"

"Everybody else on their second obstacle. This is where you gotta be _really_ careful..." The Survivor host reminded as literally everyone stuck their arms out to balance.

Bonnie out of nowhere started moving his arms like no tomorrow, making Foxy almost instantly froze in his spot watching his friend.

Clyde from the bench kept his fingers crossed, but in the end, his brother kept going, causing him to sigh in relief.

"Nice save! But Knuckles and Sheik are now taking the lead!"

Marth was attempting at making it across as fast as possible, yet unfortunately, he ended up slipping and falling right into the water, pulling Luigi in with him.

"Marth and Luigi fell! Gotta go back!"

"Keep going, Luigi!" Mario yelled.

"Zelda and Shovel Knight taking their time." The master noted. "Guess for this obstacle for them in particular, slow and steady wins the race."

Meanwhile, the first two teams that were in the lead were already on the balance beam, where balancing became an even bigger priority at the time, unless one actually had to talent to dash their way across it with little to no trouble at all. Unfortunately, since not even Sonic the Hedgehog had the ability to do it, nobody competing stood a chance.

Knuckles clearly was not the best at balancing, yet thanks to Sheik grabbing his arm, he remained balancing safely.

"Great teamwork for Knuckles and Sheik!"

However, within a few more steps, right behind Sheik's back, there went Knuckles, causing her to be yanked right into the water as well.

"And just like that, they are now in second place. Bonnie and Foxy have taken over, but they are in _no_ rush at all..."

"We're way ahead of 'em. Take your time..." Foxy told the bunny.

"It is Bonnie and Foxy in the lead, followed by Zelda and Shovel Knight in second, and then we have Marth, Luigi, Knuckles, and Sheik all neck and neck."

"You know what you always told me, Knuckles!?" Sonic yelled from his spot. "It ain't over 'til it's over! You're _still _in this!"

"Bonnie and Foxy are now at their combination lock. You all have three pairs of numbers in front of you. All you gotta do is figure what exactly is the right combination here..."

"18-12-07. Let's try that first..."

Bonnie pulled on the handle.

"...Not right!"

Foxy immediately turned around shaking his head in annoyance, actually causing Mangle to laugh.

"It's okay, Foxy!"

"You alright?"

"I'm fine, Sheik. I'm fine..."

"Trying to win this for the both of us..."

"Knuckles and Sheik are moving a little faster, yet they know they need to be very careful after squashing their lead. Their moving past Zelda and Shovel Knight!"

"Uh... Zelda, it pains me to say this..." Shovel Knight stated. "I'm all for good sportsmanship,... but after learning the ways of the game and what Greninja told me, that combination lock? ...We might have to _cheat_..."

"Guess we'll both be villains for the day..."

"I'm very surprised we're allowed to do it myself..."

"Zelda and Shovel Knight are across! ...Here comes Sheik and Knuckles! Marth and Luigi coming up!"

"Just try it like it's somebody's date or birthday..." Foxy suggested.

"...07-12-18..." Bonnie Roberts tugged on the handle again.

...

"...Not right!"

Foxy Michaels covered his face with both of his hands cursing beneath his breath.

"What did they just put down?" Zelda took a couple steps closer to eye Bonnie and Foxy's work just in time to see their incorrect answer. "Okay, Foxy just told him to try it as if it's somebody's birthday. So..."

The Hyrulian began arranging the numbers and tugged.

**12-07-18**

"Zelda and Shovel Knight out of _nowhere_ have it! They've taken the lead and are on their way back!"

Foxy immediately dashed over to see their answer, nearly pulling Bonnie, and pretty soon, literally everybody was doing the same.

"Come on, Zelda!" Link clapped his hands.

"Well, looks like there ain't no shame in cheatin' today." Master Hand commented.

In spite of Zelda and Shovel now being in first place, their small lead was nimbly evaporating. Since everyone else ended up getting the right combination quickly, Bonnie and Sheik's teams had no trouble catching up, both eventually passing them, forcing Zelda's team to pick up the pace slightly.

"Looks like we have a three-way battle! Marth and Luigi need to _hurry_!"

"Just do your best, Marth." Luigi of all people encouraged someone.

"Okay, just jump off..." Foxy suggested to Bonnie to just leap off to the platform the moment he figured he was just safe enough of a distance to move onto the next obstacle.

"Bonnie and Foxy have taken the lead back! We have a _challenge_! Everyone _really_ wants to spend time with their loved one!"

"Okay this next obstacle is very unpredictable. Just stay close to the center..." Sheik told Knuckles as the echidna followed her lead. Fortunately for the red anthropomorphic Mobian, his sense of balance was willing to cooperate. And from that point, it was her team versus Bonnie's team once again.

"Alright, this is it! Gonna come down to the lily pads and who's gonna smash that tile with the handle!"

Both teams successfully dashed along said lily pads, Foxy swiftly handing the handle to Bonnie, Knuckles giving his to Sheik.

"_**CRACK!**_"

"_**CRACK!**_"

"_**BONNIE AND FOXY WIN REWARD!**_"

By less than a second, it was one of the closest calls when it came to one of the challenges in a while. Bonnie, Foxy, and both of their loved ones were all cheering with happiness, the brother and friend of Bonnie and Foxy rushing over to celebrate with them.

Out of frustration, Knuckles kicked some sand away.

"And what do we do now, Sheik?" Impa asked the ninja. "We keep going, right? Just like back at home."

Her head was hung low.

"Calm down, Knux. You did awesome. You're still in the game and that's all that matters."

-/-

"Alright, so here's how it is gonna work..." Master Hand went right to it. "Foxy, Bonnie, you two are gonna go on a barbecue feast with your loved ones. But of course, to be fair, there are six other people here. And everybody worked at their best to win this challenge. ...What do you think you're gonna do?"

"Choose one person?"

"That's right." He answered Bonnie. "Go ahead."

He eyed Foxy. "Wanna go first?"

"No, you go first. You were the leader."

All six competitors that lost the challenge shot their stares at him.

"...I mean..." Roberts lifted his hands up to lazily bring them down. "Let's just be real here. He's been talking about him all this time, and I feel like Luigi _really_ wants to spend time with his brother. It's the right thing to do."

Luigi widened his eyes.

"Mario Bros., come on over."

Feeling like leaping high in the air again, Luigi reunited with Mario once more as they embraced.

"You need to go." Foxy never blamed Bonnie for his decision. "I would have picked you, too."

"But Foxy, you and Bonnie still have to choose just one more person..." Master Hand reminded. "And keep in mind, by choosing this last person, nobody else will ever see their loved one again until after their Survivor experience is done. They will say their goodbyes, and they will go right back to camp with nothing, while the rest of you are gonna spend time with your loved ones on a feast. I suggest you choose _wisely_..."

Bonnie looked at Foxy.

"Guess I'm picking, then..."

Knuckles bit his lip, Shovel Knight was not even looking at all, Marth wiped away another tear, Sheik had hands on her hips, and Zelda could not have taken her eyes off of Link.

"Aw, man... Those looks on your faces. You guys know I hate to do this..."

"No pressure..." Knuckles commented.

"..." Michaels finally made his decision, hanging his head back up. "Alright, I've decided. I wanna say something... _Shovel Knight_, I don't think I can remember a single day you mentioned Shield Knight at least once, and in my honest opinion, it would be a downright shame to not spend time with her the _one_ time you can out here. Would you like to come?"

He could have been any happier. "O-Oh... Thank you so much!"

"Shovel and Shield Knight, come on over!"

Immediately, Shield Knight came on running down from her spot on the bench over to her partner to share a hug once again.

"Sorry..." Marth mouthed to Elice.

"Don't feel sad, Marth. Just fight through it. You fought before, you can do it again."

Zelda was still staring at Link, who had curled up lips, now lowering his head. One could have inferred that he was trying his hardest holding back tears. Not to say he was ticked about Zelda not being picked, yet simply the fact that he knew that it was time to say his goodbyes.

"Okay, so we have four people going on the reward,... and unfortunately..." A sigh escaped from Master Hand. "I'm afraid that the rest of you will have to say goodbye to your loved ones."

And they did.

"Stay strong, Marth! Remember mother and father!"

"You have the strength to get through this, Zelda. You can do it."

"Tough it out for eight more days, Knux."

"You did great, Sheik. I'll see you when you get home."

With that, they all left to begin making their way back to camp.

"Alright. The rest of you, enjoy. Head out that way to my right, and the feast is waiting for ya right over there."

And without a moment to soon, the eight happy individuals began to head out, ready for a grand experience none of them would ever forget.

_"I might have been assumed to be rather extremely close to Roy when he was still in the game," Marth sat back a rock back at the __Bikutā beach. "yet, I highly doubt that Bonnie and Foxy aren't the closest pair at this point. They are both already on the outs with Knuckles, and time and time again, they have shown that they are each other's ride or die. I know the pairs have been chosen randomly and they have conveniently been put together, though in the end, I am actually fortunate that it happened. ...And I am already aware of my position in the game at this stage, yet I am pretty sure this challenge puts the final nail in their coffins. Perhaps while I am still here, perhaps it is safe to predict that the common goal with the Chatan Alliance is to get rid of either Bonnie or Foxy for the next Tribal Council..."_

* * *

**Okay, just so like the last chapter, this is also one of my favorite chapters in the series. Taking a break from strategizing a bit, now we have the Loved Ones visit for the season, and this really makes me have an even bigger point of view of the Loved Ones visit in Survivor in general. When certain characters talk of their Loved Ones such as Luigi and Shovel Knight, by the time they get to the visit, it really highlights their characters and it's rather satisfying and nice to watch. And yes, Sonic, Link, and Mario, all from Survivor - Kodai Island are here. Kodai Island fans are probably having a field day. And also, "Clyde" is Toy Bonnie btw. And Impa has her Skyward Sword design.**

**Plague Knight from the Shovel Knight franchise will be join the Brain tribe for Survivor - Mexico! Those of you that have played the game and his story, you can tell that it'd be rather foolish of me to not include him on the Brain tribe.**

**Questions:**

**1\. So it seems that Bonnie and Foxy are actually being targeted this time as the tightest pair who are both already on the bottom with Knuckles. Thoughts?**

**2\. Does Marth still have a chance of being blindsided at this point?**

**Vote for your top five players of the season and I encourage everyone to review. See you on Wednesday!**


	39. Chapter 39: Day 31 Pt 2 - Day 33 Pt 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 39 - Day 31 Part 2, Day 32, & Day 33 Part 1

**Here am I once again for another chapter of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights! Last chapter, we had the Pirate Crew alliance being very upset at what happened at the last Tribal Council, and how Marth was literally forced to jumping back to the Chatan Alliance to save his own life, and then we had a very emotional Loved Ones visit.**

**Bonnie and Foxy, conveniently being paired up despite the eight being players being randomized for spots, won the reward challenge, and they decided to take Luigi and Shovel Knight because they felt that they needed to see their loved ones the most. However, as a consequence, Marth said that it only placed an even bigger target on both their backs for being the strongest pair remaining in the game. (He's not wrong, though. Bonnie and Foxy connected on like, day two and now look where they are lol.)**

**So we'll see what happens up to and through the next immunity challenge...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Given the fact that Marth never even wanted to join the Chatan Alliance, I'd say that it is not impossible for that to happen.**

_**Derick Lindsey:**_** Yep. That's what made the Loved Ones visit special, especially for Luigi. As for Bonnie and Foxy, if one of them in fact wins immunity and the other one finds another idol, that wipes every target off the bo- Oh wait, Knuckles still exists. Nevermind lol.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 31**

* * *

_Sheik, Marth, Zelda, Knuckles_

-/-

Unfortunately, the two emperors and knights that were not chosen had to say an early goodbye to Impa, Elice, Link, and Sonic. With the lucky four going on a reward to spend time with their loved ones for the first time after over thirty days, the other four had to make the trip right back to camp with the same old rice and coconut they had been eating since their adventure first started. No matter what anyone felt about it, one could have understood where they were all coming from, due to the results of the challenge altogether. It was almost as if it was a major slap in the face.

Then again, none of them, not even Knuckles seemed to be super bitter about it. Other than naturally feeling as if they should have went on the reward, no one appeared to be extremely angered by it.

However, like almost all of the seasons of Survivor, at least something had to be brought up after the results of the challenge. Yet firstly, Sheik opened up of what she felt in a confessional.

_She sighed with her mind flashing back to the moment where the final person was called over to join Bonnie, Foxy, and Luigi. "I mean,... I guess I can understand. It's not that me and Impa are blood related or, long-life partners or anything. So I guess I have no right to complain that much. I respect their decision. It's just that I just wanted to go. That's all. But Luigi really needed to see his brother, and Shovel Knight **desperately** needed to see Shield. So why be mad at them? Guess it's peoples' natural instinct... I bet either Zelda or Marth would have been picked before me if one more person were to join."_

She was now standing with Marth in the water.

"...Do you resent any of 'em at all? I mean, you and Elice are siblings after all, just like the Mario Bros."

Lowell sighed with a slow shake of his head. "Not really... Sure, me and Elice are brother and sister. Though I think it was right for Luigi and Shovel to go. I would have took them as well."

"Maybe that's why it was meant for us to win to guarantee us that we would have went, right?"

"Perhaps so..."

_"And then to top it all off, I'm stuck with Knuckles, who probably only tolerates me at this point... I mean, who knows? We haven't really bonded that much since he called me, Greninja, Shovel, and Luigi out after Shadow left." She went on. "Zelda? Well, I guess that's the only benefit from coming back here with certain people. We already had a growing relationship anyway. We had yesterday to prove it. But Marth? ...I guess it's something. What I'm trying to do at the moment is to have some type of relationship with him, even though I basically dragged him over to our side last night and he himself knows it. However, because of the Chatan Alliance now holding onto him by a leash (maybe not literally, but might as well be), without question, if any of us feel he's trying to pull something over us at least a little bit, then he'd be the next on the chopping block, or at least in some serious trouble. And Marth's smart. He wasn't going to just let himself be voted out last night, so he pretty much had no choice to but to jump ship again. Sure, worst case scenario, he could be thinking the worst of me right now, but... like the old saying goes, that's how Survivor works. I'm used to strategizing in real life, and Impa just gave me more motivation to keep going."_

_"Although, as much as we're cautious about Marth, Bonnie and Foxy are the most obvious duo remaining in the game. I mean, sure they took both Luigi and Shovel Knight, but they're part of my alliance and they're not as dangerous. Foxy and Bonnie are both on the bottom that have been tight from day one, and today literally highlights. For all we know, everyone is probably watching at home screaming at all of us to get one of them out, and even Marth probably knows that. So if we're gonna trust Marth, the common goal here is to get rid of one of those two."_

She placed her hands on her hips and stared. "...Foxy and Bonnie, right?"

He chuckled a little. "Exactly my thoughts. I just need to be aware of who we would be gunning for first."

"Well,... you probably know a bit more than I do since you were aligned with them last time." The ninja admitted. "Who's more of the strategist? The fox or the rabbit?"

"The former..."

"Yeah, that's how I predicted." She responded. "I feel like Foxy has been secretly controlling this game from behind the scenes. He's already won two immunities, so he could very well win the next one, too. Foxy first, and then we will see whether we can get rid of either Bonnie or Knuckles next."

_"Well,... I guess at least I don't have to pretend that I'm working with that alliance anymore." Marth thought out loud. "They are already aware that I am not with them due to my position. ...You know, I have a feeling that Sheik would do quite well on the battlefield if she was in my army. However, right now I feel as if I am being held captive by the enemy being forced to do whatever they say. Foxy's the more openly strategic threat than Bonnie is, so I assume that is our next target. Not sure if he has an idol, but because two have been played already, he would probably be looking for one upon his return... And what are we supposed to do if he has it? Risk removing him from the competition with an idol in his pocket? ...That's a very, very, **very** large risk that we would have to take."_

He found Knuckles simply lying down on the bamboo in the shelter, not even bothering to look from Zelda at that point.

"I'm sorry..."

"You think you can find a way to get Sheik out?"

"...Well, including my vote, that would make it a tie, and that would mean we would all have to risk drawing rocks..."

"Then there's nothing to apologize for." Knuckles replied, starting to sit up. "I mean, if anything, _I'm _the one that should be apologizing... but I would be actually apologizing for _you_. …Not gonna lie, Marth. I generally feel sorry for you, and Bonnie and Foxy have stated that they are as well. None of us exactly know what it's like to literally be forced to working with someone you know you don't wanna work with... Were you really gonna work with them, though?"

"...I mean, I was going to stay with you three a hundred and ten percent, but Sheik literally tells me that if I refuse to work with her, then... at least Freddy would probably be speaking to you instead of myself at the moment..."

He sighed with great frustration. "That Sheik, man... See, this is why you and Zelda should have trusted Shadow for just one more vote. Those four were just gonna continue to get dangerous and look what happened..."

"Well, at the end of the day, we just felt that working with Shadow long-term was never worth it. If he was to backstab us again, I would have looked foolish with Zelda, anyway. ...However, in spite of my game being watched at the moment, at the very least, I can guarantee you one thing. You are in no danger for elimination at the next Tribal Council."

Knuckles lowered his head. "...A hundred and ten percent?"

"A hundred and ten percent." He nodded with extra assurance. "Bonnie and Foxy are being perceived as a dangerous pair, so it's almost certainly one of those two for next time. To the Chatan Alliance, they're dead men walking. However, as much as I am certain that you are not going to be the next individual to be put on the jury, just to be a _thousand_ percent sure you aren't getting eighth place, just for the sake of the both of us, I figured that it would be best for us two to help with the common goal here."

The nineteen year old blinked.

"It would help the both of us gain more power even though we are both in two separate alliances. We would at least be on the same page, since there is already a certain level of trust we have with one another. And at the end of the day, we will both be safe."

"...So basically what you're saying is that you want me to flip and help vote one of those two out..." Knuckles went straight to the point.

"Well, that is a rather blunt way of putting it, though it does not mean that it is not the truth of what I'm trying to say. If you were to jump ship, you would be in the majority, and I would gain more power in the Chatan Alliance, which means, more power for you as well. We could even let Sheik in if you're planning on switching alliances, so that we would progress with a potential split-vote plan."

_"Although it would help me earn a better position in my new alliance by gaining Knuckles, at the same time, I highly doubt it would be decent for Knuckles's game. However, the thing is, it is apparent that Knuckles may not be the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to strategizing. And what is best for my game plan is to take advantage of that and play up that card, with me being aware that Knuckles would be the one person to take that opportunity and go with it, whether it would be smart for him to do it or not. But for me in particular, with the position that I am in, even though I'm their prisoner at the moment, I am at least playing up behind the scenes with no one watching. I am an emperor, so in a way I would still have a say and what could happen in the near future. ...All I need to do is to make sure that Knuckles is in fact flipping on Bonnie and Foxy. And if he is, we need to find out as soon as possible."_

"...I'll think about it..."

Though Knuckles was not looking at Marth anymore as he went away, it was most likely he only said those four words just to sort of get him out of his dreads. Yet he indeed had quite some thinking to do.

* * *

**Day 31**

* * *

_Bonnie, Luigi, Shovel Knight, Foxy_

-/-

As for Foxy, Shovel Knight, Luigi, and Bonnie were all sharing an experience they would never forget. They are their loved ones were already eating away, all eight of them sitting at a table while exchanging words and laughs.

Yet every so often, there was the occasional thank from Luigi, Shovel, Shield, and Mario.

"I just wanna say thank you, you two." Mario directed his attention to Bonnie and Foxy. "You two didn't have to do that just to keep us together."

"I mean, that's what we wanted to do." Bonnie replied. "Luigi has really missed you. He's come such a long way, so he really deserves to have you here right now. And by the way, who would want to miss the chance of meeting _you_ for the first time?"

"Aww..." Mario grinned. "You're so nice. I would like to spend this time to get to know you and Foxy as well."

"Oh, don't worry about that." Mangle shook her head, taking a bite of her burger. "I have no trouble telling you all about him."

"Mangle?" Foxy shot a friendly glare beside him. "You don't have to speak for me. You know I can easily speak for myself."

"Oh, just shut up and eat already."

"Me being able to have my brother on this reward with me really feels like a major accomplishment in my opinion." Luigi explained. "The moment I've found out that I've made it to the family visit, my mind was finally at ease, especially after what happened last night. However, when I found out that I was going on the reward, all that was built up in me, with Mario now being around, I can finally let everything off my chest of what I gone through to get this far in the game. Maybe he has some advice and even some constructive criticism that I need to hear."

"Oh, and of course," Bonnie wanted the attention on one more member of the tribe. "_Shovel Knight_."

He was already chuckling.

"How in the heck can we forget about Shovel Knight?"

"How was he?" Shield Knight asked out of curiosity.

"He's basically everything you like about him." Bonnie explained. "Your partner is fun, adventurous, kind, he even tells great stories at the campfire at night when no one else has anything to talk about. Life of the party. And because of him, we all learned a lot about the both of you."

She smiled warmly. "Well, guess he was somebody that kept you all company, huh?"

"That's why we decided to bring him here." Foxy spoke again. "After hearing about you two a lot, I'm quite curious to see what stories you two have that you can share together now that we're all here."

"Oh..." That felt so good to Shovel Knight to hear, he had no idea how to thank the two FNAF characters at all. "...Well,... I think since we're already consuming food, perhaps that should be a topic."

He turned to his partner.

"Though this time, I want you to start off first."

"Gladly." She nodded as if she already had something in mind, which she did. "Okay, _so_... everyone here likes pancakes, right?"

Luigi was now sitting near the water with his older brother.

"So overall, I was almost voted out of the game three times, twice in this merge so far, and both by one vote..." He recalled. "But other than that, the only other time my name was written down was at my first Tribal Council where I was up against our strongest tribe member... and I somehow survived... And the fact that they preferred me over Cloud was... overwhelming... Not in a negative way, though... It's just..."

"They liked you over Cloud, and that was how their minds work." Mario finished for him. "Sometimes it's not just about who's the strongest. They thought of you who was more likely to keep the tribe harmonized. Cloud was probably going a little too hard when he was in the game."

"Sheik did tell about his lack of social skills..."

"I mean, come on, Luigi. Even back at the Mushroom Kingdom, I know you would be way more well received then Cloud might have been. They've always thought of you to be a friendly guy... even though..."

With him now hanging his head down low a little, now it was Mario that was feeling guilty.

"Hey... Hey, don't look like that. We've talked about this before hundreds of times."

"I know, I know, but... I can't help but feel that I should take at least most of the blame to why some people might look down on you..."

"Well,... guess it just gives me more motivation to prove myself... And look how far I become." He reminded him. "I'm surprising myself and learning more about myself everyday."

"...I'm glad to hear that from you, Luigi... I really am."

_"You know, with me being in my brother's shadow back where I am, of course Mario has his own opinion about it... He... kinda blames himself at times. I don't blame him for feeling that way, but that's basically saying that he's blaming himself just because he's older than I am. We're fraternal twins and he just happened first. How is that his fault? It's my fault that I'm in his shadow because I was too nervous to step up for myself half the time and Mario just so happened to be the one with the most success... Not that I don't get any success or anything, but it's just the fact that Mario takes all the credit half the time. ...But there is no reason for Mario to blame himself for it, just like there's no reason for any sibling rivalries or anything. ...And... Look at what happened to me. All that I've gone through and I'm still here... And maybe if I can actually win Survivor..." All of what he was feeling for the past thirty-one days finally began to come out, a few tears beginning to stream down his face, not even bothering to wipe them away. "If I can actually win Survivor, then... perhaps I would be seen in a different light and... it'll... it'll show everyone that I know how strong I really am... I may not have been confident at all when this started, but what I've learned the most is... That it is **okay** to push yourself. If you don't, then... you're not hurting anyone but yourself by proving just how strong you really are. So,... I-I'm gonna keep going..."_

"I love you, bro." He spoke to his red-capped sibling.

"I love you too, Luigi. Just stay strong for eight more days and you'll have your turn to talk about your own Survivor experience since I've already talked about mine..."

-/-

"...Hmm... It seems that my brother and your friend are having an interesting conversation..."

In spite of Mangle and Clyde laying eyes on one another not so long ago, they seemed to be already getting along just fine as they both sat in the sand near the table, laughing quite a bit.

"I suppose they are already relieved that we... have both literally _survived_ out here for over thirty days, now they both wanna start a new friendship." Foxy presumed. "...You don't live that far from me, right?"

"Nope..." He shook his head. "Maybe we'll just let him be. We'll be here for a while, anyway. ...So,... anything you wanna talk about while we're here?"

Michaels actually smirked and snickered a bit. "Well, considering the fact that we've never voted differently and that we're always on the same page, I guess we have very little to hide from each other."

"You're probably right." Bonnie smirked back, taking a moment to pop a couple french-fries in his mouth. "I suppose we have to avenge Freddy for this next Tribal Council... But the only problem is... this is without a doubt the worst situation for us so far... I don't know how long the both of us will be here, man..."

"Don't worry." Foxy shook his head. "I was in my feelings a little last night, but we just gotta keep our hopes up. We'll be alright. I know we still got Knuckles and we'll talk with him... We clearly can't just vote for Luigi for our own safety anymore."

"And Sheik? ...Zelda's never gonna vote her out, and she's the only way we can get back Marth... Shovel is our only option and he probably has the idol, so this means that we might have to take him out and the idol at the same time. It's the only way we can both survive... I don't think Freddy exactly wants either of us on the jury. Like I said, I haven't known him for as long as you have, and early in the merge I might have said something about being brought into an alliance that I've never asked to be a part of basically..."

"Yeah..." He took a sip of his soda.

"But... I'm glad that I got to be part of it. Even while Shadow was still around, because we needed someone like him that was gonna protect us. You know? He might have been blindsided, but hey, I would have felt much worse if you would have left. And I'm also glad that me and Freddy were on the same page. We were just starting to really become friends before he paid the price at what happened last tribal... So we need to do this for both him and Shadow in a way, you know? I don't know how we're gonna pull it off, but we're gonna do it."

"We're bros. We fight for each other, right?""

It was Bonnie's turn to snicker. "Yep. We keep each other here and Knuckles and we're good to go. I mean, Mangle was there for you when you needed her, so I guess I gotta do the same when she leaves."

He gave a humorous smirk in response. "So I'm Clyde, then."

"Guess that makes sense."

"I mean, it does. I may not act like it, but I am younger than you, so it probably still counts."

Bonnie agreed completely. "Well, you're the boss where you work at, so I don't mind at all."

"...Oh, I don't even remember thanking you back. There's no way I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. After all, you were the one that pushed me to vote Cloud out back on day three and I don't think I have thanked you at all."

Though Bonnie also had a smile of amusement like Foxy, at that point he really started to think about it. "...What did you think when I told you that I would have liked for you to vote with me at that tribal?"

"Well you know I clearly wanted Luigi out. I felt that Cloud would have benefitted us the most because of his physical strength. I was... kinda also annoyed at you to be honest. With our two votes, we could have sent Luigi home." Foxy had no intention of lying in spite of it basically being key in Survivor. "I was never really planning on working with Cloud, but at the time I felt that you were kinda preventing me from voting him off."

He nodded as if he expected such an answer. Though his smile never faded away.

"It was just how it was in most seasons of Survivor. You vote off the weak and then you move on." He took a bite of his hotdog. "But then I realized that I am also a Survivor fan. Sometimes voting off the strongest isn't always the best way to go, and thanks to you persuading me to keep Luigi over Cloud has really reminded me of that. My overall plan here was to have a balance between the social and strategic aspects of the game, and I gotta say... you really helped me start to move in that direction... Maybe that's why I pushed myself out there to have strong connections with people, and I suppose that's where Knuckles and eventually Freddy came in.

Bonnie was mainly focused on the part where he stated that he basically helped Foxy move in the direction he desired to be in. "...You really think that, bud?"

"Without question..." He slowly bobbed up and down. "I really appreciate it."

_"Me and Bonnie have been through a lot. Yeah, I can see myself being best friends with him outside of the game. Sure, I may be the more apparent threat on the radar, but I gotta tell ya, I don't know what would have happened to be if it weren't for him. He helped me by convincing me to vote with him, which in the end worked out, or else I would have been on the bottom. ...But, he's helped me from preventing on being on the bottom of the tribe, and what do I do in return? ...I basically dragged him into the alliance that he really didn't ask to be a part of... Yeah..." He stared down at his feet for a moment. "I've helped Knux, I've helped Freddy, I've even helped Shadow as well... But Bonnie of all people is really the one person I haven't helped that much yet... So for me, heart and head are telling me to go with him as far as possible. I feel like he really deserves a big thank you for putting up with me for a month. Getting ourselves to the end would be the most satisfying. So if things somehow pull through, working to get to the finals would be the best way of how I would say thanks, since he really deserves it, you know? ...And then maybe out of this game we would do something more..."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 32**

* * *

_Foxy, Knuckles, Marth, Luigi, Zelda, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, Sheik_

_-/-_

The following day of the beloved family visit, for the castaways remaining, they would have been smart if they realized those dark, grey clouds in the sky were a serious warning sign for some type of precipitation to occur. Fortunately for them though, at that point in their adventure, all eight of them were well aware of that. First thing in the morning, too. Nobody even thought of starting a fire for that day for obvious reasons. Nonetheless, at least they would have been able to attempt at making fire whenever the storm decided to be no more. Storing dry wood under the shelter was everything.

In spite of that however, the moment when the rain finally began to come down, it resulted in quite a few complaints.

"Aw, come on..." Bonnie rolled his eyes. "_No more_..."

"I mean, I do not mind the rain myself, but... this experience has proven that precipitation actually has a huge effect on everything relating to this game..." Marth opinionated. "At this point it is rather becoming a tragedy..."

"You know what, maybe if we don't have a challenge today, perhaps this day can be kind low-key and chill. You know what I'm sayin'?" Knuckles lied back on the bamboo like the day before. "Thanks to this, my mood has already been shot and it hasn't even been ten freakin' minutes since I woke up..."

"Oh, don't worry, Knuckles." Shovel Knight spoke up. "Just because of the weather not being in everyone's favor does not mean that our day can be ruined. I'm pretty sure we're more than capable of thinking of anything we can do as the storm as passing through. ...Let us sing that classic song made for children whenever it rains..."

That caused quite a few snickers from the group.

"Are you serious?" Sheik questioned.

"I'm all over it." He nodded confidently. "It's something we can all do to past... at least a few minutes of our time, since it is not a guarantee that there will be a challenge today anyway. Now I know that you all might think to yourself that you are not the best when it comes to singing, as I myself may not have the best singing voice... But then again, it is not... like singing at all. More like chanting if you may call it."

"Alright, I'll give it a go." Knuckles completely turned his body over, now lying on his stomach as suddenly the rest of his fellow cast members came into view. "Nothing better to do right now, anyway."

"So who's gonna start?" asked Sheik.

"I'll volunteer and you all can follow." The shovel fighter cleared his throat. "Rain, rain, go away, come again another day... Now you all. Come on!"

"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day."

...

"Rain, rain, go away, come again another day!"

The second time resulted in huge laughter from the tribe.

_"So since it pretty much rained throughout the whole day, I had plenty of time to think about what Marth suggested I'd do yesterday." Knuckles brought up, it still raining as he spoke. Though at that point it was barely a sprinkle. "He basically told me that it would be best for the both of us to remain on the same page in order for us both to gain more power in the tribe. However, in order to do that, I need to cut ties with Foxy and Bonnie and join the Chatan Alliance so it would help them all split votes and vote one of them out in case they have an idol. I really doubt either of them have it, but that's not the point. ...So, should I flip? That's the only obvious question that comes to mind. ...I'll be honest. Me going against them is a rather questionable thing to do, but slowly, I was starting to think to myself that it sounded so crazy that it just might work. I mean, why not have extra security to make sure you're not going home? Though the reality for me is even though I spent the whole day thinking about it, I still haven't made up my mind, yet... probably not until I find out who wins this next immunity challenge..."_

* * *

**Day 33**

* * *

By the time the next day rolled around, it was not as if the weather decided to light up, since it ended up raining yet again. However, at least it was never a complete downpour unlike certain previous times.

"Come on in, guys!"

Sheik, Foxy, Luigi, Marth, Shovel Knight, Bonnie, Zelda, and Knuckles all had their heads tilted downward a little in order to avoid too much rain entering their eyes. Yet they still attempted at their best to stare directly at the master hand.

"Alright, you guys ready to get to today's immunity challenge? First things first, Foxy, once again I will take back the necklace."

He sighed in defeat as he made his way over. "Would be cool if I started a winning streak. Wouldn't it?"

"That depends on how much you want it." The hand replied as Foxy's necklace was unhooked, officially making it no longer his. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. We're gonna bring a challenge back from Survivor - Kodai Island. _Super Smash_. For today's challenge, you're gonna do it in rounds. For the first round, the eight of you will use a baseball bat to swing at a soccer ball that will be standing on a large wooden peg. The soccer ball will be used in attempt to break a large, sturdy target. The first _four_ will move onto the second round where they will then untie a bag of puzzle pieces. Only the first _two_ that solves the puzzle will then move onto the final round, where they will smash wooden containers to find three different numbers. Once you have them all, you will then use them as a combination lock. _First_ person to unlock their box to pull the large key out of the socket will have their flag raised winning immunity. With immunity, you are guaranteed a spot in the final seven. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the thirteenth person voted out of Survivor and will become the sixth member of our jury. We'll draw for spots, we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity and a guaranteed spot at the final seven." Master Hand raised his hand high in the air as the rain kept coming down. "Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

Dashing off, the remaining competitors in the season went right into action, grabbing their baseball bat and hitting their soccer balls with full force. Clearly all eight of them had the desire to win, while being aware of the fact that no more than one person had the right wear the individual immunity necklace at a time. Hence, giving them the reason to compete for it.

"Knock the ball as hard as you can against the target. It's much more sturdy than it seems..."

Knuckles, Sheik, Foxy, Luigi, and Bonnie were all doing a great job thus far. It took a bit of time for Shovel Knight to get the hang of it, yet he did. Marth and Zelda were the main two that were struggling, due to their targets barely cracking at fist.

And then by the time some major damage was taken place, Bonnie and Knuckles's targets were almost fully obliterated.

"...Knuckles moving on! Bonnie moving on!" Master Hand called. "We're looking for two more and that will be it! Just gotta keep getting that ball every time you take a swing since it's gonna bounce off all over the place!"

Unbeknownst to everyone, Luigi sort of had some practice with baseball back where he was from.

"Luigi moving on! One more to go!"

"Oh, yeah!" He cheered. For once in Survivor it was something Luigi knew he was rather good at, unless against all odds, there was somewhere in the world where there was a video game named after a particular sport he just so happened to be a part of as well as many of his friends.

"It is between Foxy and Sheik it seems. Who will get that final spot?"

Foxy took one swing, and even though there were quite a few pieces that have fallen, it was still not exactly enough for target to be considered smashed.

However, when Sheik took her swing, that was in fact the case for her.

"Sheik moving on! It is Sheik, Luigi, Knuckles, and Bonnie all moving to the next round."

Foxy cursed under his breath out of frustration.

"Everybody else take your spot on the bench."

-/-

"Alright, now we have our second round. It is Bonnie vs Knuckles vs Luigi vs Sheik. We're only looking for the first two to move on to the final round. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

The final four of the challenge wasted no time in untying their bags of puzzle pieces from rather large poles in front of them. Luigi was quick to removed his gloves to untie along the way or reaching his bag, quickly throwing them on the ground.

"Twenty puzzle pieces. This could go really fast depending on how good you are at puzzles."

Zelda from the bench slowly shook her head.

All four castaways successfully untied their bags, with them all dumping their pieces out at the puzzle stations. Quick fingers and a quick mind were all that was necessary for their puzzle to be completed. And just as Master Hand stated, the process could have been done in just a matter of moments.

"Bonnie doing a decent job. Sheik and Luigi are making _quick _ work of this. Knuckles _quickly_ falling out of it..."

He might as well been the definition of 'hit and miss' when it came to the challenges at that point.

"Master, I got it!" Sheik's hand was high in the air, the master nimbly floating over to see her completed puzzle.

"...Sheik has it! She's moving onto the finals!

"Yes!" She heaved a heavy sigh of relief.

"We're lucky for one more to move on!"

"Hey! Hey!" Luigi jumped up and down out of excitement.

"...Luigi has it!"

"I did it! I did it!" He cheered with glee, earning claps from the already eliminated contestants at his progress.

Bonnie exhaled through his nose while Knuckles slapped his ownself in the face out of his own dissatisfaction.

And on the Luigi's puzzle, there was some sort of picture of a rather strange looking blue man with 'butterfly wings' while in a rather dark background.

-/-

"Alright... Now we have our final round. It is Sheik versus Luigi, both fighting for a one in seven shot at a million dollars. Here we go for the final time. Survivors ready? ..._**GO!**_"

Both original Chatan members went at it with the hammer that they were given, wasting no time in whacking away at the boxes, several loud noises being made as a consequence as the two used all their strength to break it open.

"Two people from the Knights tribe fighting for immunity." Master Hand observed. "Sheik has already won the first individual immunity challenge and she'd very love to win it again. Luigi on the other hand has never won immunity or any challenge at all. If he wins, it would be his very first individual immunity."

Though Sheik already wanted to apologize to the plumber at the time, she knew that she herself had her own game to play. It was simple. She wanted the title of Sole Survivor as well. It was not as if she was simply going to give up the whole challenge just for Luigi, and she very well knew he thought the exact same way about her. Besides, that was the whole point of competition in the first place.

"Sheik has her first box open! Luigi has his first box open! Both of them have their first numbers!"

Everyone else awaited from the bench.

"Both of them seem to be neck and neck. ...Luigi's second box is open! Sheik's second box is open! One more to go!"

Yet for the third box, Luigi was at least a couple seconds ahead of Sheik at that time, immediately grabbing all three of his numbers to move onto his combination lock, Sheik joining in moments later.

**47 89 91**

Luigi attempted at the handle.

"Luigi tries to pull the handle but it doesn't work. Try again."

**89 91 47**

"...?"

"Still not right! Don't give up!"

Shaking his head, Luigi continued on scrolling through the numbers for the right combination.

**91 47 89**

A handle was pulled right from the socket, causing one's flag to be immediately raised high in the sky.

"_**SHEIK WINS IMMUNITY! GUARANTEED SPOT IN THE FINAL SEVEN!**_"

"_Oh goddesses_..." Sheik could not have been anymore relieved at the result of the challenge, making her way over to Luigi to give him a hug out of respect, Shovel Knight from the bench simply watching.

-/-

"Sheik, come on over. Second immunity win this season."

The other survivors as a whole clapped for her victory as the ninja confidently made her way over for the immunity necklace to be once again wrapped around her neck.

"For the second time," The host placed a hand on her shoulder. "Sheik wins immunity, she's going to the final seven, and she can not be voted out. Everyone else, you know how hard it has been for yourselves for the past thirty-one days. But unfortunately, somebody's Survivor adventure is about to reach its end. You guys can head back to camp, and we'll have Tribal Council tonight to see who's going to be the sixth member of jury. Sheik, congrats."

"Thank you, master."

_"Things just can not get any worse for me." Bonnie felt like absolutely nothing was going his way. "Sheik played Marth like a fiddle, Marth's forced to be on the other side, now Sheik has won immunity, none of my alliance has at least made it to the final round, and we're already on the bottom. At this point, I'd actually be surprised if the Chatan Alliance doesn't suspect that we could be looking for idols. ...But we'd **better** look for something, or else me, Foxy, and Knuckles are just gonna get picked off one by one. ...Too bad that family visit wasn't the immunity challenge so the both of us would be safe."_

* * *

**Alright, we had another pretty nice chapter here. Luigi bonded with his brother with both of them opening up to the struggles of Luigi being overshadowed, and we have Bonnie and Foxy bonding quite well after all that has happened this far...**

**And then we actually have Knuckles actually leaning on flipping...**

**But now we have another character reveal to get to. Bandanna Dee from the Kirby series is going to be on the Beauty tribe for Survivor - Mexico! I figured he would fit due to his charm that his charm he might bring. And also, he's our first Kirby character to be included in my series since Dedede from Kodai Island!**

**Questions:**

**1\. ...Would Knuckles actually flip?**

**2\. What did you think of how the Mario Bros. described their relationship?**

**3\. Could Bonnie and Foxy actually pull through?**

**Vote for your top five favorite players this season and I will see you on Saturday!**


	40. Chapter 40: Day 33 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 40 - Day 33 Part 2

**Alright, everybody. We have finally approached chapter forty of this story, which means that we officially have ten or less chapters to go before Survivor - Emperors vs Knights will officially be completed and my second season of this series will officially come to its end... Even though I don't want it to end because I love this even more than Kodai Island for a number of reasons, but I guess we'll talk about the end just a bit later.**

**Foxy and Bonnie are the two main targets right now, and Knuckles... might actually turn on the both of them in spite of Foxy saving his life at the Rouge vote... Idk what he's thinking but let's see how the vote turns out tonight. New character reveal for season three as usual.**

_**Historyfan15: **_**Yep. Things seem to be getting worse for the two remaining FNAF people. At this point, they should probably have the mentality of "noting is impossible." Lol. **

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 33**

* * *

_Sheik, Shovel Knight, Foxy, Luigi, Marth, Zelda, Knuckles, Bonnie_

-/-

"Congrats once again, Sheik!"

"That was brilliant, Sheik. Way to go."

"Way to go to you, too, Luigi. You could have beaten me and you would've won."

_"I just had to let Luigi know how well he did in the challenge. I'll be honest. I didn't expect him to be the one guy I had to beat in the end. This is by far his best challenge performance in this entire season, and of course, I just had to kill his dreams from winning individual immunity..." Knowing this, Sheik hung her head down a little with a saddened look. "And based on what's been happening with him lately, him winning the necklace would have been the perfect time... But, as usual, unfortunately Survivor is notorious for being a selfish game... And as much as I would have loved Luigi to win as well as everyone, I want to win Survivor, too. ...Nonetheless, I probably still need Luigi, and especially Shovel Knight. I don't know if he's the other alliance's 'Safe Vote' at this point, but if he's getting votes again, it'd probably be because of his overall story in this game. He just reunited with his brother the other day, so that would make him a large jury threat... But then again, any of the three of us could have our names written down tonight... Those two emperors that are in our alliance are out of the question."_

She was at the water well with Luigi and Zelda, the three of them filling up each other's canteens.

"Those three are gonna do everything within their power to overcome us. Them making a last ditch effort to swing Zelda over to vote out Luigi proved it." She recalled, immediately eyeing her fellow Hyrulian. "And I'm not accusing you of flipping back over."

"Oh no, I thought of nothing of it" She shook her head just to make herself clear. "And you are correct. All three of them have proven to be dangerous players."

"And it just adds to the number of reasons on why they all need to go. We just need to predict which of the three of us would get the votes _this _time..." Her head turned to the plumber. "And as much as I think that you could be a possibility again, I doubt it's gonna be the case, since even they know they already targeted you twice for being their 'safe vote.' We play an idol even if they have the numbers, you would be saved. I already have the necklace, it would be foolish of them to target Zelda of all people, Marth's the most likely person to work with them again for obvious reasons,... so that leaves Shovel Knight of all people."

"I do agree." Zelda nodded in agreement. "Shovel Knight seems to be the only logical option for them. ...Well, perhaps it is safe to say that I in fact won't be torch snuffed tonight... _hopefully_."

Sheik laughed. "You're good, Zelda. I highly doubt that it will be you tonight."

Luigi chortled also. "Well all that _I'm_ hoping for is that I won't get votes again with a sneak attack."

_"I do not know what Marth's overall game plan is at this point." Zelda had to admit. "Now that Sheik brought him over to our side, I feel like there is a much needed discussion between the two of us that has to occur. And yes, I was thinking about it, yet we never really had that many opportunities. However, any conversation in Survivor is crucial. Thus, if we both survive tonight knowing that we are still on the same page, we need to make it a priority to have our discussion if we are both in fact going to work together once more."_

Then out of nowhere, the Altean swordsman himself appeared from the trees, making everyone freeze in place with somewhat of an alarmed look upon his face.

"...Marth, what's wrong?" Sheik was the first to speak.

"...Knuckles is flipping."

_"Right after we got back at camp from the challenge, I pulled Marth aside immediately and told him that I've finally made the decision to flip." The young adult explained. "Now, don't get me wrong. It really does break my heart to not work with Bonnie and Foxy, but let's face it. I need to get to the end, here. I'm tired of being on the bottom, and for all I know, they could have been targeting me for being a physical threat. ...And also, I need to help Marth, who clearly knows that he needs me. So the best thing to do is for me to join Marth, by being in with the enemy. Long-term, it would prove to be beneficial for the both of us if we have any chance of getting to the end."_

"You're kidding me..."

"I know it sounds surreal, but no, I am not." Marth replied. "His intentions are that he needs to distance himself from the other two on the bottom in order for him to be seen as less of a threat."

And then, there came Knuckles himself.

"Sorry I'm late, but I'm here I am."

The ninja gained some sort of questionable look on her face. "You're _flipping_..."

"I mean, I hate to do it." The echidna lifted his hands only to drop them moments later. "I hate to do it, but I have to. I don't know how they're gonna take it, but I'm tryin' to win this game like everybody else. We should just get this conversation done before somebody listens. Three of us vote for Bonnie, three of votes for Foxy, that's it. Kay?"

"Woah, woah, _woah_, Knuckles..." Sheik was already waving her hands out in front of her. "I appreciate you working with us, but try slowing down a bit. This all of a sudden is quite a bit to take in..."

_"Knuckles flipping, changes **everything**." Impa's student could not have believed it. "...I... Knuckles... I honestly don't even know what to do with him. I certainly **never** expected that. I mean, sure that's apparently just one more person we can count on, but... wow. I mean, of course I am not going to ask him anything that might push him back, but still. I'm still trying to process it as we speak... though I guess there's some more planning I got to do if I'm going to work with Knuckles of all people. Perhaps he's trying to get over our differences for something? I don't know... I just got Marth the other night, now this... You know what they say, though. The more the merrier."_

Unbeknownst to all of them, a familiar red fox was seen eavesdropping them from the trees in the forest. Turning on his heel, he already began to make his way back to the shelter, far too irritated to continue observing.

Luckily for him, Bonnie Roberts just so happened to be at said shelter by the time he came back.

"I eavesdropped. Guess what? …Knuckles is flipping."

"..." He almost instantly widened his eyes dropping his jaw. "..._What_?"

"I heard them all talking. Marth told them that Knux was flipping over to their side and then Knuckles confirmed it. They're splitting the votes between the two of us..."

"..." After eyeing randomly in all directions in disbelief, all Bonnie did in the end was cover his eyes with both of his hands. It was unlike him to be irritated at something, but yet he was, even though he seemed to be mostly frustrated with the overall situation. Knuckles for him only managed to put salt on the wound.

_"Are you serious? ...You've got to be kidding me. Just... unbelievable." Foxy Michaels was a whole mix of emotions, holding onto his head out of annoyance. "I wish I never came up there, but something told me to go up there anyway... **Knuckles**... after all that I've done for him, he's gonna stab me in the back in the worst possible time he could. Like,... what part of him thinks that this is really a good idea? Not only that it's terrible for my game, but also for his own game as well. I mean, I'm not trying to be ignorant and butthurt about it because it's been almost forty seasons of Survivor, it's just that I think that it's such a horrible move."_

"Can't believe this man..."

Five minutes later, the two ended up at the beach sitting down near the tribe flag, Bonnie sucking from a coconut.

"I know..." Foxy mumbled under his breath before staring at Roberts right in his face. "I mean, you know this makes absolute no sense, right?"

"I know, Foxy. I know..."

"Like, in what better position would Knuckles be in if he's with _them_? He's already ticked off half the tribe before, now there's even less of a chance of him being taken seriously by the jury. We were _already _taking him to the end and he was _already _on the bottom. So now he's gonna flip over to the Chatan Alliance even though he's gonna be at the bottom there as well? ...I mean, I don't know anymore, Bonnie... I just don't."

He placed a friendly hand on his shoulder. "Guess it's just you and me, then. Huh? Us against the world..."

"The only reason I came here so I can calm down and vent. Everyone needs to vent elsewhere once in a while... But... I literally saved him before the swap! Shadow saved him _twice_, one more time than I did! So now if I'm not here, I have to explain to Shadow on why Knuckles is flipping. We already lost Marth, so I _ really_ want to know what is going through Knuckles's mind right now..."

_"I really don't know what he's trying to accomplish, but tribal is literally a couple minutes away. I've just got finished talking with Bonnie near the flag, and there's no time for me to talk with anyone. So, you know what? Now I gotta fight even harder so I will at least make it past this tribal, let alone until the finals. I had a plan for me and Bonnie, but at this point, we're screwed. It's out the window. Thanks to Knuckles. Now I feel like I'm the stupid one here for fighting to keep him in over Rouge..."_

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 33**

* * *

The eight remaining players all had their torches in hand, one by one entering the Tribal Council, following the usual procedure as they all waited for Master Hand to bring out the five jury members.

"We'll now bring the members of our jury... Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, and Freddy voted out at the last Tribal Council."

With his grin representing his way of saying hello, Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy all watched as he sat down, Foxy shaking his head, still not exactly over his elimination round.

"Foxy, let's just get started with you." Master Hand actually pointed him out. "You're already shaking your head, not pleased at all to see Freddy sitting there."

"I don't even feel like it was even about Freddy at all. It was certainly more about Marth and Sheik. Freddy just paid the price. But, yeah. I'm not gonna lie. It's not the same not having him around."

"Alright, let's put the spotlight on Marth and Sheik for a minute." The host decided. "Sheik, at the last Tribal Council, you chose to take Marth's vote in an attempt to get the majority back, and clearly, your plan proved to be a success. However, if the line is still in the sand, that technically means that it is four against four. Marth could very well still want to work with Knuckles, Foxy, and Bonnie against the rest of you if he wanted to."

"Well, let's just make this clear." The ninja started to speak. "I took Marth's vote away and told him that he could either stay with us or be voted out."

Marth did not eye her.

"So that basically means that if Marth choosing to flip right back over, and if those other three are still tight, then that means the eight of us are drawing rocks. And I'm... _pretty sure_ no one wants to draw rocks over something like this, especially since we all made it this far."

"Marth, how did it feel having your vote taken away?"

"..." He sighed to start it off staring down at the ground. "Like I was being forced to surrender because I didn't want my life to be cut short."

Roy curled his lips.

"I mean, I suppose given the fact that I was out in battle back in Altea, one could say that I have seen something like it before, yet I never have, even though there was in fact as if a line was drawn in the sand back in the day. But now, it is almost as if I am in fact the enemy the Chatan Alliance needed to have the numbers."

"Marth, I wasn't trying to make you appear as 'the enemy.'" The Hyrulian shook her head of that. "I was never trying to make you look like the bad guy in front of the jury or anything. All I wanted was to have the majority back."

"Oh, I know, don't get me wrong." He nodded in understanding. "I understand your exact intentions. That was what I honestly felt like in the moment."

"So basically what I'm getting at, Marth, is that you were... _forced_ to work with the Chatan Alliance due to your vote being taken away, and forced to work against the people, who you actually wanted to work with."

He gradually bobbed his head up and down.

"So, Bonnie, Foxy, and Knuckles, let's have your opinion on it, since Freddy unfortunately can't speak for himself, since he's on the jury."

He slowly turned his head side to side with somewhat of a humorous smirk.

"Now that you two are back on the bottom in probably one of the worst ways possible, now it's your turn to fight to get to the top."

"Well, we basically already avenged Shadow, so I guess we have to find some sort of way to avenge Freddy, now." Bonnie said. "I don't know how in the heck we are gonna be back in the majority, but, never say never."

"But Bonnie, fortunately for you and Foxy, you both won the reward challenge at the family visit."

Knowing that the Loved Ones visit did in fact took place, it resulted in a variety of reactions from the jury bench.

"Even if one of you is going home tonight, safe to say, it was at least rather fortunate for a loved one of yours be brought out right here on Kodai Island." Master Hand recalled. "And you two chose Luigi and Shovel Knight in return."

"Yeah, seeing Mario, Link, and Sonic from last season was in fact nice." The bunny grinned. "I took some time getting to know Mario a little bit from what little time we had. I... wish I got to know both Sonic and Link, too, only because of the fact that there were on the season before us, but of courses you can't bring the whole tribe out on any reward."

"Luigi... How was your bro?"

Though a warm smile came out, Luigi was staring off to the side initially, not even know what to say to start it off. "...Well, I guess I can say that without a doubt it brought me great relief to see him again, and I'm pretty sure Mario is relieved as well. I'm glad that I could in fact do something for him for once, rather than him always doing for me all the time."

Sheik, who was sitting next to him, began to rub his back.

"Sure, that's what older siblings do, but because of him always doing more for me, every time he does something, I figure that I owe him something in return, and I wish I would have even more opportunities to pay him back. Perhaps the visit can start things off. And... I'm pretty sure everyone here already knows that he's the reason why I'm even here so that I can have an opportunity to prove myself out here, but I am not afraid to admit that I don't know what I would have done if it wasn't for my brother."

Everyone watched as he went on.

"And even though me and my brother are two different people on two different seasons, since, you know, I don't want me whole Survivor experience to be all about my brother, at the same time, I've got to give credit where it's due. When we lost our mom a while back, besides dad of course, Mario did everything in his power to make sure I was alright. Soon afterwards, that was when started doing all our adventures and everything."

...

Literally every single person at that Tribal Council all gave Luigi some type of reaction of astonishment.

Master Hand actually pointed that out as well. "...Everyone here looks... kind of surprised at what you just said, Luigi."

"I am in fact, shocked." Zelda replied. "This is my first time hearing about this."

"Same here." Shovel Knight commented. "I did not know your mom passed away, Luigi... You have my condolences."

"Thank you." Luigi thanked with a genuine smile. "But yeah, master. It took me a while to get over it, but Mario helped me through it. I'm good now... even though of course I still miss her."

"Hey, you know what?" Bonnie began talking again. "Even though both me and Luigi are in two separate alliances, we both started on the same tribe together back on day one. And over the past thirty days, I can say that he has indeed grown a lot out here. No doubt about that."

"I agree with Bonnie very much." Shovel Knight backed him up. "He's had to go over quite a few obstacles since he first started out here. I remember him performing in the opening challenge as if it was yesterday. And in spite of everything he has gone through before he came out here, what I really like about him is that he is not frightened at all when it comes to coming out of his shell. He is indeed a strong person."

"Thank you, Shovel Knight."

"..._Well_,... we just went from talking about Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy being on the bottom thanks to Sheik taking Marth's vote to suddenly talking about Luigi overcoming his personal obstacles."

The entire tribe laughed.

"I guess we can get back to the first topic before people get too emotional here." Foxy smirked, nearly everyone laughing once more. "Now even though it's me, Knuckles, and Bonnie all on the bottom, I really feel like it's more of me and Bonnie, since we're the perceived 'tightest pair' in the tribe."

Knuckles himself turned to him.

"Knuckles is not the target on everyone's minds at the moment, even though all three of us are physical players, since me and Bonnie were 'randomly' paired up in that challenge, I believe that put the final nails in both of our coffins. It's us against the world right now, but we're dealing with it."

"Marth, from what I'm hearing, I can say that this is not the first time a pair in this game has been brought up. You and Roy, who's already on the jury, were also seen as a pair in this game."

"Correct, master, and I completely understand how Foxy and Bonnie are feeling since I can in fact relate to their situation. However, due to my own situation, plans change, and allegiances change. That's the best way I can put it."

"Marth, are you _happy_ with your alliance? Or do you still want to work with your old alliance?"

All eyes were on Marth Lowell.

"..." He heaved a heavy sigh. "The best way I can explain it is that for me at this point, my options are rather limited. Right now I'm trying my absolute hardest to not hurt my game _anymore_ from this point forward, since we're already down to eight members left of this tribe, and the finals are just around the corner. I don't know if I would still get there, nor do I know of the jury's perception of me at this point, so... I suppose I should simply stay quiet."

...

"Alright, then. It is time to vote. Knuckles, you're up."

With the voting session beginning, the only remaining Mobian in the game stood up and made his way to the voting urn.

Greninja leaned in and whisper to the rest of his fellow jury members. "Even I can't believe that Shovel Knight _still_ hasn't played his idol..."

"You gotta do what you gotta do. Sorry, buddy."

The anthropomorphic animal himself was staring in his direction the whole time.

Marth and Foxy followed suit, Sheik going not too long after, holding up Foxy's name on his piece of parchment.

"You're strategically leading your alliance, I'm strategically leading mine. One of us had to go. I wish you good luck."

After Luigi was Bonnie Roberts, writing down Shovel Knight in big letters.

"My back is against the wall, anyway. Still, I gotta vote for somebody."

With a hunch of his shoulders, back he went, Shovel Knight and Zelda being the last two to take their turn at the voting urn.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

The votes were final as he left, the jury patiently waiting for the master's return, Foxy glancing at Freddy with a large smirk, yet with the shake of his head as a signal to tell Freddy that there was little to no hope for his game, to which Freddy only blinked.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

Shovel Knight never even thought of digging in his bag.

"Okay. Once the votes are read, the decision is final, person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Foxy sighed in frustration, not caring what anyone thought.

"First vote... Foxy."

...

"Foxy. Two votes Foxy."

"...Shovel Knight."

Luigi sighed in relief. Even though the vote was on the last person he wanted, he was past done of his name written down in general.

"Bonnie."

"My first vote..."

Foxy playfully punched his arm, yet with no emotion.

"Bonnie. Two votes Bonnie, two votes Foxy, one vote Shovel Knight."

"Wait... when did they get the numbers to split votes?" Shulk wondered. "They are only one person short of doing that..."

"...Maybe Knuckles turned?" Greninja assumed.

Shadow lifted an invisible eyebrow.

"Foxy. Three votes Foxy, two votes Bonnie, one vote Shovel Knight."

...

"Bonnie. Three votes Bonnie, three votes Foxy, one vote Shovel Knight, one vote left."

That forced somewhat of a weird, confounded reaction from players such as Sheik and Marth. Shovel Knight, also confused, actually started to count on his fingers eyeing everyone.

One of the targets in question was just as confused as everyone else.

"Thirteenth person voted out of Survivor, and the sixth member of our jury..."

"...Bonnie. You need to bring me your torch."

Knuckles was shocked, immediately staring all over the place. Luigi frowned in confusion, and everyone else except Foxy was sort of surprised.

"Good luck, guys."

"I thought the plan was supposed to be a tie and vote for Foxy on the re-vote..." Zelda mumbled to no one in particular.

"Seriously?" Shulk spoke, Shadow, certainly just looking as bewildered as ever, with Freddy being no different.

"Bonnie, the tribe has spoken."

"Thanks, master..."

_Snuff_.

Foxy could not have felt any more guilty.

"Time for you to go."

With no other words spoken, out the tribal and down the stairs he went.

"...Honestly, I don't know how you guys do it. Even when it was certain that it was either gonna be Bonnie or Foxy tonight, you guys are _still _in shock as something _still _seemed to not go as planned. I said a couple tribals ago that you guys are talented when it comes to blindsides, and I still keep my word to this day. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_"Marth was forced to work with the Chatan Alliance, we found out Knuckles was flipping, and Foxy thinking that it was him that supposed to go tonight decided to vote because I was his sacrificial lamb. ...Honestly I'm not mad at all. ...I actually thought that it was a good move for Foxy 'cause even I thought that he was going tonight. I just wished I would have saw through it and vote for Foxy myself and Foxy still would have gone home, so I guess that was my own mistake, haha! Don't worry Foxy, you are still my number one ally despite you backstabbing me. I'm good."_

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Bonnie**

**Marth**** \- Bonnie**

**Luigi**** \- Foxy**

**Sheik**** \- Foxy**

**Knuckles**** \- Bonnie**

**Shovel Knight**** = Foxy**

**Bonnie**** \- Shovel Knight**

**Foxy**** \- Bonnie**

_**8th Place:**_**Bonnie**

**Well, Foxy is even more of a villain now. After finding out that Knuckles was flipping and knowing that it was him that was supposed to go, he took advantage of the split vote plan and vote for his number one ally, causing Bonnie to accidentally go home lol. It might have been him and Foxy against the world, but now it's Foxy versus literally the entire tribe at this point and he's already fighting for his life, and him voting Bonnie makes him an even bigger threat than before. But of course at least he's still in the game.**

**Specter Knight from the Shovel Knight series is coming to the Brawn tribe next season! I don't know if I said this already, but I am in fact spreading the Shovel Knight franchise on Survivor.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What is your perception of Luigi at this point?**

**2\. What do you think of Foxy sacrificing Bonnie causing him to be voted out?  
**

**As usual, vote for your top five players of the season (Shadow and Krystal who are in still in first place both gained more votes and Freddy finally got a vote) and watch my YouTube intro of the season and I will see you all next time! (Freddy's Ponderosa chapter is posted, but Bonnie's will come later.)**


	41. Chapter 41: Day 34 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 41 - Day 34 & Day 35 Part 1

**Alright, so here we are at the final seven with Knuckles, Luigi, Zelda, Foxy, Marth, Shovel Knight, and Sheik. One of these seven castaways is a future millionaire. All the upcoming winner has to do is to wait until the Survivor - Emperors vs Knights reunion show to find out lol.**

**But anyway, last chapter Bonnie was blindsided last night after Marth convinced Knuckles to flip, knowing it'd be a bad move on his part, and Foxy, who caught word of Knuckles flipping, chose to backstab Bonnie as a last minute sacrifice figuring out he was the target.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** For Knuckles deciding to flip, I guess I'll give credit to Marth for manipulating Knuckles just to satisfy his own agenda. And while the split vote plan was good for Marth because he knew he had another ally to work with again, for Knuckles himself it's rather questionable. As for Luigi though, whether people think he can actually make it or not, it's more about who's actually gonna win. However, I am quite surprised of how many Luigi fans are here lol. I thought there would be quite a few but he is actually one of the most popular characters for the season. (Probably because he's known for having way more personality than his brother). We'll see how things would turn out for them.**

_**Derick Lindsey: **_**Yeah, if Foxy wasn't considered to be a villain before, he's certainly one now and probably the only major villain left. Kind of interesting that he didn't really start to play his role as a major villain on the show until the Shulk blindside. I kinda feel bad for him for the Shadow vote because that was the one opportunity his alliance had to take control (at least until Greninja went home, but then he got unlucky) again. As for Chica though, what I can say is that... I'm thinking about her lol. And also, messed up with the votes again, huh? lol. It's almost as if the story's asking me to rely on you to get the votes right at this point.**

**Speaking of the votes, I edited them in the moment I realized I actually forgot to include them, but I'm gonna put who wrote down who here for those of you who read early so that you guys wouldn't have to look back. Bonnie was the lone wolf who wrote down Shovel Knight. Luigi, Sheik, and Shovel Knight voted for Foxy, so that means that Knuckles, Zelda, Marth, and Foxy voted for Bonnie, eliminating Bonnie Roberts in eight place with a 4-3-1 vote.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 33**

* * *

_Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Zelda, Foxy, Sheik, Luigi, Marth_

-/-

Down to seven.

Seven was always considered to be the lucky number of the bunch. However, whoever got eliminated from the game in seventh places was not lucky at all, since there were not seven final spots in Survivor, and seventh place was certainly not first place. Basically, the opposite of seven being lucky when it came to the game.

But for the time, Bonnie took the eight place spot and when people came to camp, there was an almost immediate discussion among the castaways.

However, Foxy of all people actually took the opportunity to speak up first.

"So, I guess the plan was supposed to be me, huh?" He actually shot a respectable smile, though.

"Can't lie..." was all Sheik replied with, placing the immunity necklace that she won back on the post. "I gotta say: you are quite the player, Foxy. Didn't expect for you to betray your number one ally, but good move, nonetheless. I even stated that you were strategically leading your alliance when I was at the urn, and now you've just proven why."

"Game on, Sheik. Game on..." Though Foxy had no problems with competing for the million, there was clearly a problem he had with somebody else when it came to making moves, and that person was Knuckles. "Knux, can I pull you aside for a minute?"

Everyone else that stayed behind all stared in reaction as the echidna followed Foxy down the beach.

_"Looks like Foxy is even more dangerous than we thought." said Shovel Knight. "Foxy was indeed the plan for tonight. He somehow found out that Knuckles was flipping over, and I guess to him, voting out Bonnie was his only choice. Don't get me wrong, we did at least managed to get Bonnie out, but clearly neither of them had an idol, so it was a wasted opportunity to get the fox's torch snuffed, but then again, Foxy himself ruined our plan. Bonnie was less dangerous to deal with. Now he's just been voted out... basically by accident. I wonder how he feels about it..."_

Sheik placed her hand on her face. "Now we have just one more reason on why he needs to go..."

"So, what was that about?"

Foxy Michaels had his arms folded, staring at the echidna from Mobius right in his eyes.

"...How did you found out?"

"Heard you talking with the others by the water well. Looks like I came at just the right time, too." While he had the floor, he chose to ask him of his motivations at that very moment. "...Why'd you do it, man? I mean, no offense, but I've put my tail on the line for you, and now I'm forced to vote out the absolute last person I wanted. I _really _felt that..."

Knuckles sighed with a head shake.

"What part of you... thought it would be _okay_... to stab the both of us in the back? ...I thought our job was to avenge Freddy after Sheik stole Marth's vote, and you..." He lifted his hands only to drop them immediately. "Pretty much did the exact opposite."

"Well, to be honest with you, Foxy,... everyone had the perception that you and Bonnie were a dangerous pair." At least Knuckles did not lie, even though what he was telling the other red anthropomorphic animal was only most of the truth. "I figured that distancing myself from the both of you would get the target off my back."

"Target? ...What target?" That was when he cocked his head a little. "You were never the one being targeted, man. Me, you, and Bonnie. You just said that the both of us were dangerous for being a duo out here, if I were you, that would have told me to just stick with us and figure out what would have been done here. You were never _going_ anywhere, Knuckles. ...What did you _truly_ accomplish by flipping? Did you _really_ accomplish much by doing hat?"

"..." He facepalmed.

"Not trying to push you away, but I'm tryin' to get the bottom of it here. Marth was already forced to work with the Chatan Alliance, you flipped, and that caused me to give me no other option but to flip on Bonnie just to save my own tail. ...I mean, I'm... I just don't understand how did it make any sense. It wasn't a good move for any of us, especially you, since you pretty had no reason to do that. I saved your life by convincing the tribe to vote for you instead of Rouge, when that could have put a target on _my _back for being strategic. I brought you into the alliance that we had with Bonnie, Freddy, and Shadow, and you mean to tell me you flipped just to get the pretty much near non-existent target off your back."

"It was just how I felt..."

"...I'm sorry, man... But,... look, I'm not yelling, I'm not trying to start anything with you, or down you, or anything you might be thinking right now. I just thought that it was a terrible move." And with that, he was on his way back. Yet, not without having one last thing to say to give Knuckles something to think about. "And just so you know, since I'm already the only one left in my alliance, if you want to have your options working again, I'm _still_ willing to work with you if you wanna make up for it. If you wanna talk, we can do so tomorrow."

_"For the love of the Survivor Gods, when will people understand that there's a time and a place for making moves? I mean, of course I wanted to flip myself, but that was because of me already being at the bottom at the time, **with** Bonnie and Knuckles back on the Chatan tribe. **Knuckles**, flipped, to distance himself away from me and Bonnie, knowing that he was **already **on the bottom, flips over to the Chatan Alliance when clearly nobody in that alliance except for probably Marth trusts him. Heck, I don't even think **they **were expecting them to flip because they already had a plan on voting me out. Knuckles flipping just gave them more options that worked to **their** benefit. He was already rubbing the Chatan Alliance the wrong way after Shadow left, now he's gonna flip on me for no reason? Just because me and Bonnie were a tight pair does not mean that we weren't planning on bringing you to the finals. In my honest opinion, I really feel that Knuckles undermined everything that we were trying to accomplish, and that in the end, he achieved absolutely nothing. …I don't mean any harm to that guy, but I am ticked off at him right now... Poor Bonnie, man. Downright shame I had to do it. I literally wasn't even thinking of that though, until the last freaking minute at tribal. There was no way we were even getting the majority back at that point no matter what we did, and clearly I was the target because I was seen as more threatening than Bonnie, so... I had to vote off my right hand man... My... first mate at that." Even with Foxy laughing briefly, clearly there was more sadness and guilt inside. "We've lost Shadow, then Freddy, and now I had to just give him up who didn't even deserve to go. Knuckles abandoned ship, and now I'm the lone pirate that remains... It's official... Nothing else against the world except me, myself, and I..."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 34**

* * *

The next morning was basically the same routine as usual. Everyone was either doing chores around the camp, soaking in the water, or strategizing with their fellow members.

Marth was one of the people that was involved in all three of the aforementioned activities at some point during the morning. He was the one that started the fire that morning after it went out the previous, and he was now sitting in the water.

With Zelda.

"You know,... it is nice to see of how far we have come out here thus far." Marth began the conversation with a warm grin. "I mean,... even though we weren't always on the same page, we had a pretty decent relationship from the start, and here we are. Day thirty-four and we are the final two emperors remaining."

She chuckled a bit at that. "Yes, I do agree. I remember when Peach and Roy were still here, and at different points in the game, they had to be... sent away."

Marth looked down. "Part of me still feels a bit responsible. I was the one who played my idol with the majority of the votes at the time, making Roy next in line..."

"Hey, at least you never had to actually right his name down." Zelda recalled. "I had to help vote out Peach to avoid putting an early target on my back at the first Tribal Council."

"...True. You may have a point. ...But even though, at least you never had to think about your own vote being taken away." He replied. "Voting is as if you are having a direct say of what needs to be done. That right was taken away from me at the final nine."

"You're not wrong." Zelda nodded in agreement. "...However, in spite of certain times being difficult for the both of us, not only we both managed to work together at certain points, we are right back in the same alliance as we once before, just with a different set of circumstances. I still remember us two being the ones that were mostly responsible for Shadow's demise as if it was yesterday."

Now it was Marth's own turn to laugh. "Same here. ...Survivor is complicated. Isn't it?"

"Without a doubt. We both seem to want the same thing, but take different approaches for our own end game."

_"Not only do I agree with Marth on the fact that Survivor is a rather complicated game to play," said Zelda. "there was another thing that I had in mind. Me and Marth had such a complicated strategic relationship throughout the competition; especially as of late. We voted together for the Shadow vote, but then, we voted differently when Greninja went home. Afterwards, Sheik stole Marth's vote and forced him to be on the same page as me again, and... I'll admit it when I say that I am a bit surprised that Marth seems to be more loyal than I initially anticipated, even though he stated he wanted to do what he could to keep me here. And despite him still being on watch by the Chatan Alliance, the bottom line is that we both started this game together, and here we are, the last remaining emperors standing."_

"...Do you think we'll be able to get along?"

Zelda cocked her head to the side with a grin. "I thought we were always on good terms with one another as far as the concept of friendship. As far as the game is concerned,... I suppose that depends on how much we are willing to continue to work together. For now, let us continue to have small conversations such as this in order for us to at least have the chance to connect."

_"Speaking of the Chatan Alliance, I have no idea what their perception of Marth is at this point. Sure, with last vote, I supposed he gained a bit more trust with them, yet at the same time, I am certain that they still aren't one hundred percent with them. Wouldn't be surprised if they're just gonna use him until they no longer require his assistance anymore. And if that's the case, it is only a matter of time not if, but when he is going to be voted out... And am I willing to do that? ...For right now, I... I'm sorry. I'd rather not think of it at the moment..."_

-/-

Several minutes later, back at the camp, Sheik, Luigi, Knuckles and Shovel Knight were all simply sitting around, Luigi simply eyeing the fire.

"I mean, I just don't get it. I just don't get you, Shovel Knight..." Knuckles was speaking to the shovel wielder. "Now, I'm a furry, so the heat can be kinda annoying sometimes, _especially_ since I am a furry. ...And then, you got the nerve to be out here wearing armor like that..."

"Well, my answer to that is rather simple." He stated. "When you've been using a shovel as a weapon for so long, and you have armor used to protect yourself, that is simply how it was for me all this time."

"..." He popped an invisible eyebrow at that. "So you're basically just used to it?"

"Long story short, perhaps. Though clearly the only piece that I do not wear often out here is my helmet."

_"Knuckles joining our side is simply something that... we never even asked for." He admitted. "We... kinda don't know what to do with him. He distanced himself away from his alliance, Foxy is public enemy number one, and we are still trying to figure out how are we going to use Marth. But everyone is in the same alliance except for Foxy, who's only option is to win immunity unless he finds an idol. ...Of course, I've been taught that absolutely nothing is a guarantee in a game such as this, so we are never a hundred percent sure. But if things actually do go according to plan, I hate to just see him just... you know, die out like that. I want to get to know him just a bit more. There are still quite a few questions I need to ask."_

"I'll be back." The blue knight stood up on his feet. "I'm going to see what Foxy's up to. Maybe I can prevent him from finding an idol."

"Oh yeah, that'd be great." Sheik commented. "We _realllly_ don't want him finding one at this point."

Knuckles decided that it was the perfect opportunity for him to leave as well. "I'll go see what Marth and Zelda are talkin' about. They've been at the beach together for a while."

"Alright, then. We'll continue to talk in a few..."

...

"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh Luigi?"

"Yeah." He giggled. "I guess so... So, what's next?"

"I'm trying to think here. Right now we have like, eighteen million options on the table."

-/-

"Okay, so I know about your whole pirate thing back at home, but there's something I've never really asked you about until now. Do you mind?"

"Not at all. You can ask me on whatever you'd like, Shovel." Foxy was walking with Shovel Knight through the forest. "Don't want you to think that I'm unapproachable."

"Oh no, not at all, Foxy!" He chortled a little in reply. "I think that you're the exact opposite. You seem to share quite a few laughs with everyone once in a while. But anyway, how much often do you think about being an actual pirate? You know what I mean?"

"I know exactly what you mean." Michaels nodded in confirmation. "To be honest, I'm only a pirate when I have to be."

"Just for the kids?"

"Exactly... _However_, I do enjoy being one for the kids for fun. Putting smiles on their faces really makes my day. Never thought that I would do something that would make parents' kids happy, so I guess in the end it's all worth it... Now for me being an actual pirate though,... I'm not gonna lie. I can't exactly say that I'd actually, haha, _want_ to be one, but I've always wondered what being one would have been like. Just because you don't want to be a certain thing and behave a certain way does not mean you can't be inspired by it."

"Those are actually... really good points, my friend! I like how you think!" Shovel Knight shared a warm grin.

_"...You know, you gotta appreciate Shovel Knight. I genuinely feel like he simply wants to get along with everyone. He doesn't come off as if he is forcing himself to make connections. He just realizes that these are the people that he's playing with. Sure, we're all each other's competition, but when it comes to good sportsmanship, when we're all dealing with all this mess out here, Shovel Knight, I gotta say, can certainly highlight someone's day at times. I really like him. ...But at the same time, that make shim a threat with a capital 'T'."_

"You came all the way out here just to have a conversation with me?"

"Right..."

"...Is it because of my days being numbered?"

For that second question he popped up caused quite an awkward moment for Shovel Knight, almost completely stopping in his tracks. "...I... Well..."

His competitor still chuckled a little. "Don't worry, Shovel Knight. You're just doing job and I've been the lone pirate out here since I turned on Bonnie. Sure you've been motivated to have this interaction with me because my chances of making it to the end are beyond low, but the least I can do is appreciate the fact that you're taken time out of your day to bond with me."

"...Well, I feel that if you just get picked off, it would be rather a shame for you to just go and not take one of these few, final opportunities to get to know you. I know we've talked before, but... I just wanted to have a talk with you, at least one last time."

"Do you think you're getting to the end?"

"I hope so..."

"I don't think it would hurt for you personally if you brought Luigi to the end." Foxy opinionated. "I mean, you'd probably beat him to the end, anyway. I was going to bring Knuckles to the end, but... _look what happened_."

"Yeah..." He blinked as the finally concluded their walk at the tree mail.

"But if you want my two cents on Sheik, I think _she's _the one you need to worry about. She might be your biggest competition for the Sole Survivor."

"..._Sheik_?"

"Well, ever since Greninja left, she became the glue that's holding your alliance together." He elaborated, pouring water into his tribe member's canteen before filling up his own. "She made sure Zelda stayed close to her, both of you are keeping secret of who has the idol, neither of you have to worry about Luigi, now you have Knuckles, and Marth knows he has to do whatever Sheik tells him to do. Long-term, you might be considered to be her biggest threat."

"..."

_"I hoped I slowly eased my way into the whole manipulation trick, haha! But it's not just that. Of course I'm trying to save myself from elimination next tribal if I don't win the necklace, but at the same time, I'm putting myself into Shovel Knight's shoes as we were walking. I believe Sheik **is** in fact Shovel's biggest threat to win. Lately, she's been proven to be quite the strategic mastermind. If that alliance stays together, she can beat every single person in that group. But as far as threats go, Shovel Knight could be the one guy she needs to make sure is eliminated before the Final Tribal Council. ...So guess what this means... I gotta pit them against each other. I'm telling Shovel to think about Sheik, and Sheik to think about Shovel."_

He managed to find time to speak with the ninja alone later on in the day in the water by herself.

"I mean, you can do whatever you want with me, but if you need just one more to make sure stuff goes your way, I'm all by myself and I'm willing to work with anyone as long as it's not me at this point. I don't even care."

Impa's student gradually cocked her head to her right. "...Okay... I gotta admit... You're not wrong... Do you think it is necessary for me to get him out _now_, though?"

"Yeah, it's a guessing game at the moment on whether or not getting him out right now would be great for your end game." Foxy folded his arms. "However, would _Shovel _actually cut your throat this early? He may not look like at, but for all we know, he probably _knows_ that you think he doesn't have a super aggressive strategy going. If he's gonna attempt to blindside you now, I recommend you get rid of him before he gets rid of you. And if he somehow wins the next immunity, maybe we can take Luigi out for being one of his options for him to get to the end."

_"Plan sounding so crazy in places it might work, right? The only disadvantage on my end besides this blowing up in my face is not knowing which of the two **has** that idol! Dang, man... That idol **still** hasn't been played yet! Is this some kind of record or something? I don't know which of the two have it, but... my guess is that Shovel Knight is more likely to have it. Because, think about it. Knowing that my alliance was scrambling last minuet at the Freddy vote, in order to guarantee she wouldn't be on the bottom anymore, Sheik might have been scared enough to play her idol at that point even though Marth's vote was already stolen... unless she would have been willing to take the risk and not play it on whoever. So... most likely Shovel Knight has it, but Sheik for all I know could have it, anyway. But the point is that Captain Foxy just might live to see another day after all. He just has to stay quiet and keep his options open."_

* * *

**Day 35**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

Knuckles, Zelda, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Marth, Luigi, and Sheik all approach Master Hand through the forest and onto the sand within no time at all, the host of the show getting straight into business.

"Alright, you guys ready to get into today's immunity challenge? First things first, Sheik, I will take back the necklace once again."

"And I will be sure to win it _back_ once again, master." She had no problems meeting him halfway. "How about that?"

"Well, I guess it's good to have enough _motivation_ to give you the confidence you need for it." He hooked the necklace back on its post. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you are going to stand on top of a perch over the water. You are gonna toss a bucket of water in the ocean, pull it back up using the rope, before pouring the water out of the bucket and into the bamboo chute, which will eventually be enough water that will cause your key to rise that is hooked to a flag. Upon retrieving the key, you will jump off the perch and swim to shore, before unlock a series of puzzle pieces. First person that finishes correctly, wins immunity. They will be guaranteed a one in six shot at winning this game. Losers, Tribal Council where someone's Survivor adventure will come to an end after thirty-five days in this game. We'll draw for spots, we'll get started."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. For immunity and a guaranteed spot at the final seven. Survivors ready?"

The seven challenge performers all stood tall on top of their perches.

"..._**GO!**_"

Then they immediately grabbed their bucket and threw it down into the water.

"Gotta use that rope to pull up that bucket in order for you to pull the water down the chute!" Master Hand reminded them. "However, that bucket has holes in it that is gonna make just a bit more difficult."

It never took that long for everyone to retrieve their bucket back. Yet Knuckles, Foxy, Shovel Knight, and Sheik all managed to have the early lead over the other three due to them grabbing their buckets the fastest and having their keys quickly rising higher than Luigi, Zelda, and Marth's.

"Most of you doing a nice job. Everyone else just trying to stay in it."

Not only it was about how fast one was able to retrieve their bucket again, but also aiming carefully, in order to avoid missing the chute completely when it came to actually pouring the water.

Zelda actually got the hang of it, as she was slowly beginning to creep up on the four other players that were in the lead.

Nonetheless, Shovel was doing a nice job of making sure the water actually went down the chute. Foxy and Knuckles had great speed, and Sheik was being the best of both worlds.

"Shovel Knight and Sheik are almost neck and neck with each other. Foxy and Knuckles right on their tail!"

"Ugh..." Foxy mumbled. "It is not _enough_..."

On the next run, Sheik attempted to make an early reach for her keys, yet it was just out of her reach. Foxy, however, proved to be much more daring when it came to collecting his keys, even going as far as making a dangerous move when he reached, appearing as if he was just about to slip off his perch and splash hard right into the water...

...Though in the end, he did in fact give up, figuring that it was not exactly worth the risk at all, especially since if he did actually fall, he would have had a major setback on his hands. He at least wanted to stay _in_ the challenge.

"Foxy tried to make a big move, but it didn't work..."

Yet on Sheik's next try, she grabbed her key successfully.

"Whoooo!"

_**SPLASH!**_

"Sheik in the water! She has her key!"

Knuckles dived right in.

_**SPLASH!  
**_

"Knuckles has his key! They're both making their way to shore!"

Just a few seconds later, there came Foxy.

_**SPLASH!**_

_**SPLASH!**_

"Foxy has his key! Shovel Knight has his key!"

By the time they all were just about to touch sand, down came Marth as well.

"Marth trying to keep up! Zelda and Luigi's keys are almost in their grasp, but they still have a shot!"

As for the four that were leading, they wasted no time in using their keys to unlock their set of puzzle pieces.

"It is Sheik... Knuckles... Foxy... and Shovel Knight all fighting for that immunity. Yet like in most Survivor challenges, it just _ had_ to end with a puzzle."

"Aw, great. Puzzles are _ right _up my alley." Knuckles said, not hiding his obvious sarcasm. "Way to go, Master Hand."

"Hmm... Maybe the Survivor Gods wanted you to take it as a blessing."

Sheik and Foxy were not afraid at all to snicker at that. Not directly _ at _Knuckles, yet _with _their master.

_**SPLASH**_

_**SPLASH!**_

"Zelda and Luigi are finally in the water!"

And the challenge leaders were officially beginning to put their block puzzle together. There were four poles that were sticking up from their tables, meaning that there were a couple holes in the puzzles that were meant to slide right down said poles. To top it all off, since it was supposed to represent a pattern, the castaways had to make sure not one, but both sides of their puzzle were right. Talk about killing two birds in one stone.

Marth eventually got into the action, and soon the five were seen using their different strategies. Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Marth seemed to be taking the more methodical approach, while Foxy and Knuckles were testing out whatever they had in mind and rearranging pieces as they pleased.

Pretty soon, Sheik, Shovel Knight, and surprisingly, _Knuckles_ appeared to have something going out of nowhere, immediately making Foxy and Marth scramble right when Luigi and Zelda got their puzzles unlocked.

"Shovel, Sheik, and even _Knuckles_ are now starting to make progress! Foxy and Marth, _desperate _to not lose their part of the lead!"

With several more pieces being put together, Zelda not taking too long herself to begin having some sort of idea, all sixteen pieces for someone were all placed.

"Master! _Master_!"

"Knuckles thinks he has it..."

"..._What_?" Sheik mumbled under her breath.

Master Hand nimbly checked his puzzle. The side that was facing Knuckles seemed to be correct. The hand quickly checked the next side to make sure.

"...Nope!"

Stomping his foot and cursing loudly, Knuckles almost instantly began taking pieces off, everyone else resuming their work almost immediate

"Just when Knuckles thought that puzzles were right up his alley after all!"

Yet a few seconds later, another voice sounded.

"Master, I'm finished!"

"Now Shovel Knight thinks he has it!"

"...Am I correct?"

...

The sixteen piece block puzzle had a large black triangle in the middle, with multiple mini triangles inside.

"_**SHOVEL KNIGHT WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

"YES!"

Knuckles cursed loudly once again, not even caring if his anger got the better of him at that point.

Zelda would not have stopped eyeing her puzzle, though. "Hmm... I wonder how I managed to get the hang of it so quickly... I was almost done with mine..."

"Shovel Knight, come on over. Guaranteed spot in the final six."

Out of excitement, he came over immediately, very proud for the master to officially wrap the individual immunity necklace around his neck for the first time that season.

"Master, I am honored once again..."

Nearly every other castaway chuckled in reaction.

"Well, I'm honored once more to wrap this around your neck, Shovel Knight. You are once again safe tonight at Tribal Council. No shot at being voted out. As for everyone else, we'll see who gets the boot this time. Head back to camp and I'll see you all at tribal, where someone will be the fourteenth person voted out of Survivor, and will become the seventh member of our jury. Shovel, you know it won't be you. Everyone, grab your stuff and head on out."

_"Well, there goes one of my options for tonight..." Foxy was not the most happy. "Not saying that he was my only option, but dang... When can I ever get a break here? Now I feel so lucky that I told Sheik that Luigi was also an option for her, because of me pitting her and Shovel against each other yesterday. And if somebody wants to do something, all I gotta do is to gather the numbers and we decide which of the two goes home. Probably the only benefit from me being on the bottom. Because when you are, it doesn't even matter as much as far as who goes home as long as it's not me. So this is for my parents, Clyde, Val, Shadow, Freddy, Bonnie... And you know what, Freddy's brother Rodriguez, too. He told me before he left that if he made it far enough he was going to be out here. Hey, Rodriguez! Giving you a shout-out buddy!"_

* * *

**I'm getting flashbacks to Kodai Island because I keep forgetting to post the names of the challenges on my profile again and what season they're from.**

**But anyway, for the most part, Foxy who's all by himself confronted Knuckles and is now trying to stir things up in order for him to survive. Though because he didn't win immunity, now he's hoping that it is anybody but him at this point. Guess we should wish him good luck.**

**Funky Kong (Donkey Kong's cousin) is going to be part of the Brain tribe for Survivor - Mexico! Sure, one may argue that the Brawn tribe is more fitting, but in the DK franchise, he's mostly known for giving DK and Diddy various transportation methods for them to access during their adventures (so I kinda picture him inventing those himself of course, which takes great brainpower to do). Funky Kong has actually been a favorite of mine for a while now so I can way to start writing him next season!**

**Questions:**

**1\. How likely is Foxy going home at this point? (Yeah I know this question is so obvious but it obviously needs to be asked lol... And that's about the only question I can think of lol)**

**Vote on your favorite players of the season on my poll and I'll see you on Saturday!**


	42. Chapter 42: Day 35 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 42 - Day 35 Part 2

**Alright, here we go again. Time for another vote off to take place, and after this chapter is done, we will have only six characters left in the game. And once we get to five, the finale will start to take place!**

**Oh, and I have one thing to say real quick that should've been said last week. This story is now my most second reviewed story of all time right behind Kodai Island! Thanks as usual. (Hard to believe I've been here since 2011).**

_**Historyfan15:**_** That is true. Perhaps he is assuming that bringing in Shovel Knight will also bring in Luigi who is his number one ally. But, yeah. Speaking of that, seeing all the seasons, it is annoying at times where an alliance needs one more person to vote with them and things don't turn out well for certain players lol.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 35**

* * *

_Knuckles, Shovel Knight, Zelda, Foxy, Luigi, Sheik, Marth_

-/-

"Nice job, Shovel!"

"I was right behind ya."

"One of my triangles was turned upside down, but you beat me to it..."

Just a few minutes after everyone returned to camp, the castaways of the Bikutā tribe already began to split up into different directions, eventually leaving Foxy and Knuckles alone at the shelter, the former lying down on the bamboo.

_"Master should never let me near anywhere a puzzle ever again in Survivor. This could have been the one time where I actually had a good shot at winning immunity, but what do I get? **Second place** because one of the pieces on the other side wasn't right... ...But, you know what? Even though I'm mad, it's basically my fault because if I would have checked both sides in the first place, Shovel would have **never** won the necklace. But then again, I don't create these challenges. So..."_

"..."

"..."

After almost half of a minute of silence, Foxy was the one who eventually broke the ice while Knuckles eyed the fire.

"So Knux, any plans discussed yesterday?"

"...Well..."

"Well, if the plan is me, then I guess that's that. But otherwise, if something else actually came up, then I'm willing to do anything for obvious reasons."

"...You know, to be honest, I don't think anything has been discussed yet as of late as far as I'm concerned. Maybe people were just waiting until after the challenge." He never looked away from the fire.

"Hmm..." Michaels remained facing the 'roof' from his position with hands behinds his head. "That could either mean that they're waiting until the last minute, or because of my vote off being so easy and simple..."

"..."

"...You know, Knuckles, I was just thinking of something. Last night you told me you went against us because you and everyone else thought that me and Bonnie were the most dangerous pair and that we were both on the bottom... But, let me ask you this. Is Bonnie here anymore?"

"..."

"...Yeah, that's what I thought. Just wanted to throw that out there. If Bonnie is not here anymore, then that makes me less of a threat actually. ...Unless I'm still a threat all on my own, anyway. But if I'm actually less of a threat now, then... maybe we could actually work together again... if you want."

Even though Knuckles finally rotated his head in Foxy's direction, Michaels never felt his eyes staring in his direction, so he never looked back.

"You don't have to let me know now if you wanna work together again or not in case you want to have some time to think to yourself. Like I said last night, I'm still open to work with you if you need my vote for something."

"_Well_, since you have to write down someone tonight, who do you think?"

Foxy had no intentions on explaining the full details of his scheme to the echidna. The damaged trust with him still existed. "I'm considering on doing either Sheik or Luigi. If they put me out of the picture, Sheik is probably the biggest threat. I have never seen someone literally forcing another to work with them. That's _huge_. If she's that smart of a strategic player, that could be extremely dangerous when it come to the finals. And she could have an idol. I don't think she's told you if she has it or not yet."

"She hasn't."

"There you have it. She doesn't trust you." That added on to Foxy's points. "If you want her out, then all we need to do is to have the entire tribe vote against her except for Zelda. She'll _never_ write her name down. Especially since she's increased her chances of getting to the end. Marth would be all over it. And if we get Shovel, that means we have Luigi. 5-2 vote, Sheik goes home, possibly with an idol in her pocket."

"Why Luigi, though?"

"Well, Shovel has won the challenge. If Shovel Knight is already thinking of final three at this point, who's gonna be the _first _person he's willing to take to the end?"

"Luigi?"

"_Exactly_." He answered immediately as if it was what he expected. "Voting out Luigi takes out one of his options. Us two, plus Marth, and if we can somehow convince Sheik to flip, that means we'd probably get Zelda, get Luigi out in a 5-2 vote, Shovel Knight would be on the outs who also probably has an idol. Then me, you, and Marth will hopefully be able to align together again and turn the tables around. ...But the thing is, Knuckles, if I leave, that's one less vote you can have."

_"Foxy could just be saying all of this just to save himself, since I still don't have that many problems work with the Chatan Alliance." The nineteen year old admitted. "**But**, don't get me wrong, a lot of what he told me makes sense. Sheik's a threat, Shovel's a threat, and Luigi has a big chance of getting to the finals. I think Marth will easily work with me and Foxy, and if we somehow get Sheik to turn on Shovel Knight, I doubt Zelda would wanna go against her. So I have two options: I could either flip and do it, or get Foxy out of here and get it over with. I have no problems working with him again, but he's on the bottom for a reason. Why'd let the one player who's on the bottom get to the end?"_

-/-

As for Impa's student, Sheik from Hyrule was seen leaning against the tree, lost in thoughts all alone. She was just finished having a brief discussion with Shovel Knight and Zelda, yet by the time she was finished, she strongly felt that she needed at least a brief moment to herself. Poor ninja had a bajillion things going on in her mind, with so little time to actually consider her future plans. Worst of all, the more time one was actually alone and away from everybody, the more suspicious people became. One major disadvantage when it came to being on the island fighting for the money, or at least the title of the Sole Survivor, the main goal Sheik was attempting at her hardest to reach.

Knuckles of all people, happened to be the one to finally locate her.

"Heya…"

"Hey..." He replied. "I was looking for ya. ...You alright?"

"I'm fine. Just thinking a few things over. ...You were alone with Foxy, right? What did he talk to you about?"

"Ah, he just did the usual routine of what people on the bottom do. He's just willing to work with anyone as long as he knows that his name's not gonna be the one up for elimination. ...He's even said that he's still willing with me, even after he confronted me the other night..."

She laughed a little bit. "That's what people on the bottom do. Foxy's a strategic player and he knows it. That move on Bonnie just put the final nail in his coffin."

"So Foxy, done. Right?"

"Unless he _somehow _has an idol." Sheik nodded in confirmation. "Although at this stage, I really doubt he has it. If he actually had it, he would have played for himself last tribal and didn't have to work about turning on his right hand man. We just have to keep watching him. He seems to be doing his usual routine, though. He doesn't stay at camp for this long after a challenge so he's probably somewhere else."

_"This is **hard**... Okay, I guess I need to explain..." She took a deep breath, having the necessary patience figuring out where to start first. "Okay, so basically, I'm trying to play up as many sides as possible. It can be quite difficult telling someone one thing and thinking of something completely different in your head when you find the two seconds to think to yourself. ...So anyway, Foxy's the obvious easy vote. However, Foxy himself came up with an idea that I needed to get rid of Shovel Knight who could potentially be my biggest threat at the end... And you know what? He could actually have a point about that. Not only that he's likable and fun to be around and keeps the tribe happy, he's made little signs that he's here to play as well. Of course, we've been buried the hatchet of him not playing his idol on Greninja… But the thing is, as much as it pains me to say it,... little sings like that are making me wonder..."_

"You think we should just keep an eye on Foxy, do a 6-1 on him without making anyone mad, and... we'll see what happens from there..."

"That'd be alright. We don't need to discuss anymore. We're straight." It was all Knuckles needed to hear.

_"Shovel to top it all off is in fact the one who has the idol. And it's getting close to the point to where you only have a few more opportunities left to play it. So that's part of me telling myself that anytime to take out one of my closest allies with an idol in their possession is as soon as possible... But, guess what? He won immunity. Though Foxy told me in advance that if Shovel won immunity, he wants me to vote Luigi out, in order to take out one of Shovel's options because he's taking him to the end... But, here's the problem. I'm **also** planning on taking Luigi to the end. I think it'd be a pretty pointless move for me to vote him out of all people. He's done nothing threatening to hurt my game at all; the furthest he's gone is that he... almost beat me at the other immunity challenge, which neither of us even need. But the bottom line is that while it would work for **Foxy** if I vote Luigi out, I doubt it'd be good for my game. So this is telling me that it's more of Foxy getting what he **wants**, rather than what's best for the both of us."_

Speaking of Michaels, sometime after Knuckles left, Foxy was coming right towards her to borrow her time for a couple minutes.

"So... Shovel won immunity."

"Yeah..." She replied, drinking from her canteen. "Do you think he's just escaped his elimination round?"

"Well, that depends on what did _you_ wanna do and how to decide your own fate?" He pointed. "But since Shovel already has the necklace for tonight, then if you want to keep me here, we need to execute Plan B."

"Luigi?"

"Yep. If you go with it, Zelda and Marth will take that offer in two seconds. They'll do anything you'll tell them to do for different reasons..."

_"So if Luigi is out of the question tonight, that means that I have one less thing to worry about. With him off the board, that pretty much leaves Foxy... unless you count Knuckles. I mean sure, he just flipped over to my alliance,... but do we really **need** him? At this point? Sure, the popular opinion is that Knuckles is not exactly a threat to win, however, he's a threat to get to the end. He literally almost won today... and that kinda scared me... As I'm sitting here right now, my plan this late in the game is slowly changing to where a final three matters most and who I want to take. A perfect world for me is to have myself, Zelda, and Luigi sitting at the end. It'd be nice if I can help the both of them get there. But because of the fact that there are only three spots, Knuckles is not part of that plan. And if I don't get rid of him now, he could probably go on a run. Sure, he sucks at puzzles... But this challenge ended off with a puzzle, and he was literally almost there."_

_"Then on the other hand, we have Foxy, who's **also** a beast at challenges. Obviously the bigger strategic threat. ...But here's my question: which of the two is stronger? ...Well, Foxy already beat Knuckles at the final twelve immunity challenge, but Knuckles was ahead of him today. ...Sounds like they're eventually matched. Strategy? Foxy is of course better. ...Yet... **Knuckles **is actually the one that is with Marth right now, who were in the same alliance before. He, along with Foxy and Bonnie desperately tried to keep him with their alliance at the Freddy vote, showing his loyalty. If he and Marth hatch up some sort of plan, that's not good for me. Maybe taking out Knuckles would be taking out one of Marth's own options. Foxy, however, has a way better shot at winning in comparison to Knuckles. Maybe if I don't take him out now- You know what, I feel like I'm going back and forth." She placed her hands on her head. "This is giving me a headache... Foxy? Knuckles? Foxy? Knuckles? Who do I choose?"_

A few minutes later, she found Zelda and Shovel Knight both in the sand.

"You guys wanna know something?"

"Oh, hi, Sheik!" Shovel waved. Although it was quite friendly, his warm smile almost immediately turned into a frown of concern. "...You look perplexed..."

"I... kinda am... Hear me out..." She went right to the point. "So... Okay, Foxy's public enemy number one, right? ...But I've been thinking... Is he rather something that would cause more harm than Knuckles?"

Both the emperor and knight stood there slightly confounded, exchanging a brief glance.

"You are saying that we should consider voting Knuckles out?" asked Zelda.

"Either him or Foxy. Both of them are threats for different reasons. ...It's a shame that we can't vote two people out at one Tribal Council..."

Although she went silent for a bit, all of a sudden, she snapped her finger as if she just came up with an idea.

"But, you know what? Maybe this plan will work. If we all decide to vote out Foxy, then it can be an easy 6-1 vote. But if we decide to vote for _Knuckles_, maybe just so that we are a hundred percent sure that our plan is gonna go through without any complications, Marth and Knuckles can vote for Foxy, but including Luigi, what _we're_ gonna do is put our four votes on Knuckles."

"...Knuckles? Now?" Shovel Knight blinked, actually being more confused than ever. "...I am curious to hear your reasons..."

"Just think about it. Knuckles is more of a threat to get to the end, rather than win. If we decide to send him home over Foxy, it'll be because of not only that, but still, we're still sorta holding onto Marth by the leash. Knuckles possibly working with Marth and Marth only again, could be a rather big problem for all three of our games."

Zelda stay silent and continued to listen.

"If we don't want Marth jumping ship or doing whatever again, maybe we can prevent that from happening by taking out one of his options to work with, so that he'll _literally _have no choice but to stay loyal to us. If we vote out Foxy now, the six of us have to battle it out, anyway. Why not make things easier?"

"Then I guess that means that we can't tell Marth about this." Zelda concluded. "Can we?"

"Oh, yeah... I'm sorry..." It was actually something that Sheik just now remembered.

"No, no, don't apologize." She held her hand out. "If it's the only way, it's the only way. So it's he and Knuckles writing down Foxy and the rest of us voting for Knuckles? Who would Foxy vote for?"

_"Sheik is once again proving how intelligent she is when it comes to a game such as this." Shield Knight's loved one complimented. "Perhaps she would born to get involved in this. She's very smart... Though, as usual, that's the perception people seem to make of her these days. Foxy literally approached me the other day saying that she's a threat. Pulling off such a bold move on Marth at the final nine was certainly not easy. That alone makes her threatening. Yet, what intensifies the situation is that he assumed that Sheik was my **personal **biggest competition that I need to deal with. Hmm... But the thing is, she certainly seems very loyal as of now. Why would she come up with a big scheme about getting rid of Knuckles only to find myself being bl- Oh wait, I have immunity. Haha, never mind. ...Although, what is she intends to target me afterwards? She already knows I have the idol. But if she's going to outsmart me about it, if I find out that it is her intention, then perhaps I need to outsmart her first... Ugh... I am talking as if our friendship never existed..."_

Just a few minutes before the group was scheduled to part for tribal, Shovel made an effort to find time with his number one ally.

"Luigi... I need to speak with you..."

"..." For once, the roles were reversed. Now Luigi was the one that was actually concerned for Shovel Knight. "Are you okay...? ...You look puzzled and... kinda off..."

"Oh, I'm fine. Don't worry." He shook his head in assurance. "...The plan is still the same. Either Foxy or Knuckles. We just need to confirm the vote with one another one last time, and it'd probably be right before we head to tribal. ...Let me just give you a hint... This might be the first ever time I am doing something like this for the whole season..."

"..." The plumber fell silent for a quick second. "And what is that?"

"...Okay... Forgive me if I sound cold-blooded. But yet,..." He looked at the Mario brother straight in the eyes. "Part of me feels as if we need to get Sheik out..."

"!" He was absolutely flabbergasted.

_"And our friendship **did** in fact come to life. This was one of the first beings on the island that have shown that they had the desire to work with me, as well as Greninja. I never came to them. They came to me for assistance. We all been through quite a bit together. Sure, I might have helped let Greinja go, but other than that, our relationships were always the solid with one another and we were even already making plans to come across one another once the competition has concluded... Trust me. I do not **want **to vote Sheik out. She deserves it. She deserves to stay here. All that we've been through. I've had my idol, but if it weren't for here, things just wouldn't have been the same. Yet,... with my time out here, after learning from others for so long,... perhaps it is time to put my knowledge to the test. I hate to do it, but... if she is making plans to come after me in the near future, perhaps it is in my best interest to get rid of her before she gets rid of me. Striking before the other person does seem to be the most justifiable argument I can make if I have to face her on the jury. That being said, if I do get rid of her, then I'd better prepare for what's coming..."_

Luigi, now having a variety of motions, was now running his finger through his hair rapidly out of a bit of anxiousness. "I dunno, Shovel Knight... I dunno… Even if we'd want to, how are we gonna get enough votes to do it?"

"Well, you and I make two votes." The knight began to do the math. "I doubt Zelda would want to turn against Sheik. Though say if they intend to vote for Knuckles, Marth and Knuckles will vote out Foxy. But if us two write down Sheik, we bring in Foxy, who has to write down somebody, anyway,... that would mean that Sheik would be eliminated in a 3-2-2 vote..."

"...But what if they just decide to have everyone vote for Foxy?"

"...Hmm... Good point." Shovel actually never thought of that. "...We haven't been confirmed of what Sheik's plan is, yet. Though if the plan at the end of the day is Foxy, then we would need to hurry up and recruit Marth and Knuckles last minute to make it a 5-2 against Sheik leaving Zelda out of the loop."

_"I... honestly feel as if I am making a huge betrayal here. Part of me is begging to pull this move off, while the other half is rejecting that offer like there is no tomorrow. I mean, I do have the idol, so I might not even have to vote her out. I never had to put Greninja's name down, showing proof of my loyalty, which is what my game has become at this point... So, to suddenly change my entire direction of how I am playing is... rather... unsettling to be honest. I can not even decide last minute at tribal because I have heard no final words from anyone, forcing me to make this decision as soon as possible..."_

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 35**

* * *

Tribal Council time did eventually came, however, meaning that at some point, final plans were indeed discussed with one another. They knew that it was going to come eventually; no excuses.

So there they were, the black merged tribe placing down their torches and sitting in the remaining seven seats.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury... Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy,... and Bonnie voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Actually staring at him with widened eyes, Foxy even began to start chuckling to himself a bit, Bonnie Roberts shaking his head with a large smirk. It told Michaels that even though he was okay with what happened, it was something that he never would have forgotten for the rest of his life. The one time Bonnie chose to play Survivor, he was basically accidentally eliminated from the game. Not the best way to go home. That was for sure.

Yet it was night thirty-five, and night thirty-three. Another night, another new Tribal Council discussion to occur.

"Alright. So Foxy, at the last Tribal Council, we spoke about how... talented you guys were at blindsides. It is rather common for this season. Sheik stole Marth's vote, yet last time, a simple, 'split-vote' situation seemed to occur, and people were still a bit astonished at what happened. It seems for the umpteenth time, some plan didn't fall through properly." Master Hand pointed out. "So, I guess I'll start with you... What happened _this time_?"

"Oh, I'll happily answer that." He found no problems elaborating. "I'm glad you started with me master. You see, me and Bonnie were the two main targets on the board (especially me), because we were seen as the tightest pair at the time. ...Which, I'll give them that, is understandable. We called Greninja and Sheik a pair, too."

He blinked in reaction.

"They know how it feels to be targeted not only because of yourself, but because of someone else as well... Kinda saying like how you can't be close friends with anyone out here because it'll bite you in the butt. And that Loved Ones visit challenge really spoke to people, since me and Bonnie were conveniently paired up for it. Knuckles chose to jump ship, Marth couldn't do anything about it, so what do I do? In order to save myself from being in Bonnie's position right now, I decided to make a last minute sacrifice to save my life..."

"...So you voted Bonnie out?"

"Yeah, I did..."

The bunny grinned largely at that, Greninja playfully punching his arm.

"It was the absolute _last _thing that I wanted to do. But, we were both backed into the corner and it was like a bunch of people were coming at us with... _shovels_. Let's just say that."

Now Shovel Knight began to chuckle.

"We were about to get attacked by shovels from everyone else, and of course since you can't vote yourself out of Survivor, you can't be heroic. I put Bonnie right in front of me, let him take the beating, and then I ran off to buy me some time. ...Just like in horror movies. To avoid making a bad decision when running away from an enemy, what do you do? Make sure someone slower than you comes with you because them getting caught will buy you some time."

At that moment, nearly everyone shared at least a bit of amusement.

"True..." Master Hand himself thought he was not wrong. Who would have known? Was the master a fan of horror movies?

"Yep. But as the consequence for me voting Bonnie out, I'm the only one left… My back is the only one that is against the wall this time and looks like it is me against the world…"

"One versus six, huh?"

"Yeah… I mean, I'm not the first person to go through this, but now I know how they feel. Pretty much the best case scenario for myself is to… hope that I can win three more immunity challenges even if I survive tonight. Most likely this is my final day in Survivor anyway, so… if I'm here, I'm here. If I'm not, then I had a good time playing while it lasted."

"Zelda, knowing your history in the game, it seems that you are one of the most likely to relate to what Foxy is going through. Have you been on the bottom before?"

"Yes."

"Did you feel as if it was you against the world?"

"Yes." She gradually nodded. "I did. There is only so much you can do when you're in that position. You try your best to prove yourself out here. But the thing is, you know how when you need to achieve certain things in life, it takes rather difficult work and determination? For this game in particular, it is even more than that. _Luck_ can also prove to play a factor, depending on the situation. ...And.. luckily for me I am still here. But no matter what happens to Foxy, it is safe to say that we at least all have made it to this point. Because anyone who is going to be on the jury is technically still a part of the game. And I used to think to myself when I felt as if it was me against the world. It isn't easy."

"Sheik, even though Foxy might be the only one at the bottom, even if he does in fact leave tonight, you still have three more tribals to go after this." It was something that the hand just had to point out. "You still have three more people you gotta get rid of, yet at the same time, hope that they vote for you if you're sitting here at the finals. Do you plan ahead?"

"Everyone is always planning ahead, master. Since we are on the island 24/7, and knowing what is at stake here, you are constantly thinking to yourself of plans to the future. Foxy's the target, but if the rest of us are the final six, then you gotta hope that you will find a way to get to that final three and that you are on the right side of the numbers for the rest of the game. Yet no matter how deep is it into the game, you can be at the bottom at any point in time. Even though I can admit that I personally never experienced being the lone wolf at the bottom, it doesn't mean that I actually _want_ to be in that position. Who plays Survivor and actually wants to be on the bottom? Especially since me and Foxy are both knights."

"Luigi, you're nodding in agreement."

"Sheik does have a point. It is not as if no one is asking, nor wanting to be on the outs. I have... _surprisingly _not have been on the outs as much as I may have predicted before I came out here, but... can't say that it is a reason to complain. You're just trying to survive out here for as long as you can. I do feel bad for Foxy, though. But, just because I was never in a position to where I had to face in the world when it came to Survivor, does not mean that there aren't similar situations in real life where you feel that way... based on personal experience."

"Knuckles." He desired the echidna to have the chance to speak. "What about you? Do you feel like it is you against the world sometimes?"

He nimbly nodded. "No doubt. I do."

"Marth?"

"Yes."

"Shovel Knight?"

"Indeed."

"Seems the Bikutā tribe has one big thing in common. Sometimes you feel you are alone. And Foxy, since you're the one that feels that way at the moment, judging by the responses from everyone based off their own experience of feeling a certain way,... you are _not_ alone."

He nodded with a smirk. "Thank you, master. But, you know what? Hey. I've made it this far. No way I'm gonna give up at this stage. The game must go on."

"So Marth, even though Foxy is the odd one out on the bottom, it's been almost forty seasons. Obviously there are going to be names thrown around the get the target off his back. The question for you is if you actually believe it. What do you do if you were approached by a new opportunity to get a different target out?"

"Well, long story short, you are your own judge. Perception is everything. Everyone can be a threat for a different reason. I, personally, have not seen every season of the show due to Altea's technology not being nearly as advanced as some of the other worlds, yet I am aware that with every new vote off in Survivor, suddenly somebody else might be a target out of nowhere. It is whatever the other players around you feel and know... I suppose this leads into the whole... 'go with your gut' thing." The only remaining swordsman assumed.

"Aye, you're getting there." Knuckles commented, a few laughs being heard once again. "Good work."

"Practice makes perfect."

"And Knuckles, since going with your gut seems to have always been a trend in Survivor, at the same time, it can be both a blessing and a curse. It can literally either make or break your game. Literally, every move your make counts out here."

"It's because you're literally taking a gamble here. That's the whole point. Just because you're going with your gut does not mean you're always right. When you have to do something you don't want to, you really have to think about what you're doing carefully and making sure this is really the path you're gonna take. And if it works for you, that's great. Your chances of winning just increased. If not, then... oh well. As long as you're still in the game, I suppose there's always the next time."

To hear _Knuckles the Echidna _saying something like that of all people caused quite a few head turns at that statement. Even Bonnie from the jury bench, who Knuckles helped vote out, turned his head side to side.

"Alright. It is time to vote. Zelda, you're up."

First it was Zelda, then it was Sheik who was on her way to vote.

"Guess I'm going with my gut for this one too. Better now than never."

Once she placed her vote in her urn, she made her way back so that Foxy had the chance to vote.

"As a wise Survivor player once said: 'as long as it ain't me.'"

Following the fox was the great shovel warrior, Knuckles quickly writing down his target within no time at all. Luigi and Marth went up to vote and sat down shortly after.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Foxy was actually already getting a couple of his bags together, in preparation for the worst. The jury watched as everyone else simply waited patiently, the hand never taking that long to return.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

...

"Okay." No one seemed to have the item of power. "Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Marth sighed, just wanting the vote to be over with already.

"First vote... Foxy."

He nodded as if it was what he expected.

"...Foxy. Two votes Foxy."

He nodded again, with even the smirk on his face signaling that he was prepared to make his departure from the game.

...

"Sheik. One vote Sheik.

That actually made her raise an eyebrow, Greninja curling up his lips. Yet Shovel Knight never made eye contact.

"...Knuckles."

"...?" He made a frown, shifting his eyes to the rest of the group individually.

"Knuckles. Two votes Knuckles, one vote Foxy, one vote Sheik."

"Hmm..." sounded Shadow from the jury, placing a finger beneath his chin.

"Here we go again..." mumbled Shulk.

"Knuckles."

He was completely in shock.

"Three votes Knuckles, two votes Foxy, one vote Sheik, one vote left."

Michaels was also eyeing all over the place, subsequently setting one of his bags down. Though he still was never completely sure. Knuckles on the other hand had a dropped jaw, his eyes went from all over the place, to refusing to shift away from the urn where the votes were being read.

"...Fourteenth person voted out of Survivor and the seventh member of our jury. Knuckles. You need to bring me your torch."

"Wow..."

Other than Knuckles of course, Foxy too looked to be a bit surprised. Not even he expected that. Even Marth was glancing around in confusion, glancing at Sheik especially. No one told him about the whole Knuckles thing.

Shadow sighed and shook his head from the bench.

"My boy stays alive..."

Hearing that mumble made Foxy immediately shift his head to face Bonnie upon recognizing his voice, both grinning in reaction.

"I don't know what to say, but... good job I guess..."

With a heavy sigh, he placed down his torch. "Looks like it's my time instead, master..."

"Knuckles, the tribe has spoken."

Upon putting out his torch, the Mobian never even waited for Master Hand to tell him that it was time for him to go. He made a big wave to his fellow members of the season and began to make his way out.

"Good luck to the rest of you. I'll be watchin'..."

And by the time he made his way down the stairs, he speed-walked the rest of the way out of the tribal, completely in frustration. Not at anyone in particular, but simply because of the fact that he was never predicting himself to leave that night.

"_Unbelievable_..."

"...Well?" Master Hand spoke. "Remember what I said at the beginning of the tribal?"

Literally all of them laughed in response.

"You guys are good at 'em and this is why. Now here you all are at final six. The endgame is near and the plan is simple: how are you going to make sure you are sitting at the finals with a case to win at all? Game is still going. Give it your all. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

**#Blindside**

* * *

_"I **never** saw that coming. At all. I **really **wanted to be in there in the final three, but I guess this is my fate. My time out here doesn't feel complete, but I guess it is what it is. Maybe I should have listened to Foxy. No wonder Sonic always call me a Knucklehead, haha. But it's my own fault that I'm here. No hard feelings."_

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Knuckles**

**Marth**** \- Foxy**

**Luigi** \- Knuckles

**Sheik** \- Knuckles

**Knuckles**** \- Foxy**

**Shovel Knight** \- Knuckles

**Foxy**** \- Sheik**

_**7th Place:** _**Knuckles**

**4-2-1**

* * *

**Yet another blindside for the season. I apologize for this chapter being released so late today, but I've been kinda busy for the past couple of days. I wanted to get Bonnie's Ponderosa chapter out before this, but since I've stated that I'm kind of behind on that, the main fic for the season is the bigger priority. However, the chapters _are _going to be the done. Best case scenario, I get both Bonnie _and _Knuckles's chapters done before the next vote off. So be on the lookout for both of them!**

**I give credit to Sheik for making this. It's as if she completed turned in a new direction of what her game was going to be since the Freddy vote. I guess she actually thought that Knuckles was more challenge threatening than Foxy being the overall bigger threat to win. Let's see how it works out and who wins the challenge for next time.**

**Oh, next person in line for Survivor - Mexico? Our third and final Shovel Knight character for the season, King Knight. One Shovel Knight character per tribe.**

**Questions:**

**1\. When it comes to Foxy and Knuckles, if you were Sheik, which one would you pick for elimination this round? Both answers seem to be correct with their own advantages and disadvantages, but I want to hear peoples, opinions.**

**2\. Would Foxy win the next immunity challenge?**

**3\. When will Shovel Knight play the freakin' immunity idol? (LOL. Seriously. He's had that thing since the day of the Rouge vote.)**

**I'll see you all on Wednesday!**


	43. Chapter 43: Day 36 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 43 - Day 36 Part 1

**Getting closer and closer here, ladies and gentlemen. Already almost time to end off the second official entry in my Survivor series, even though this fic started just five months ago. I have officially confirmed the chapter limit for this story, which is going to be forty-nine chapters in total, just one less chapter in Kodai Island. (Mainly because one of the chapters in that fic was literally just about an immunity challenge I guess.)**

**But anyway, due to this being the first part of day thirty-six, and the numbers going down each tribal, after this chapter, there will be one vote off per chapter, until we get to the final three, meaning that chapters 44-46 are strictly going to be vote off chapters. And also, this will be the last reward challenge in the entire story (which is also going to be an immunity challenge as well).**

**Also also, as usual, another character reveal for Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)… or how about _two_. Two character reveals in this story for Survivor - Mexico... _for now on _lol. Let's do that.**

_**Historyfan15: **_**One thing I can say about the Sonic the Hedgehog representation for this season is that overall, they did rather well. At least one Sonic character was always in the spotlight and all three of them had fun moments. Very curious to see how Espio would do next season.**

_**Derick Lindsey: **_**Yeah I actually got the votes right on the first try for once lol. But anyway, Foxy's chances of getting through are getting weaker and weaker. Yet despite all that, since Survivor very well lives up to its name at times, there have been people in the show that won against all eyes. So hopefully Foxy is still optimistic. Oh, and yeah, final five will be the last tribal someone can play an idol.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 35**

* * *

_Zelda, Foxy, Sheik, Luigi, Shovel Knight, Marth_

-/-

...

Getting quieter and quitter as each day passed, both for better and worse. For the former, mainly due to the possibility of it being less chaos around the Bikutā tribe in comparison to the activity previously. Yet on the contrary, the paranoia that each and every one of the remaining castaways fell victim to at least once was still in the air.

Though the level of paranoia was rather tame by the time they all returned to the beach, mainly due to Tribal Council being over and done with. However, certain competitors had a hard time of getting it out of their own hair or fur, based on the results of the recent voting session.

Marth Lowell shook his head with a mix of disbelief and a bit of frustration. He thought he did everything right. The man listened to what he was told, he followed Sheik's instructions, and never made any attempt to flipping back over to work with Foxy Michaels. In spite of it, with him voting incorrectly in comparison to his 'alliance' with the Chatan folks, it was almost as if they were attempting at giving the Altean warrior a signal that none of them still had yet to be satisfied.

And it annoyed him. No doubt.

"Ugh... I guess it was a nice play, guys." Foxy on the other hand chose to give his enemies a compliment. "I mean, thank you for keeping me here, first of all. Even though I voted for one of you, Knuckles was one of the last people I expected to get the boot tonight. Well done..."

"Well..." Sheik had the nerve to laugh a little. "At least with him gone, hopefully things will be at peace with everyone here."

In Lowell's world, he thought she had the nerve to say something such at that knowing that he was left out of the actual plan. Nonetheless, he figured it was best to keep his mouth shut, at least in regards to Sheik in particular. Just because he was being held onto by a dog leash never meant that it was a good thing for him to continue to rock the boat to make matters worse for himself.

Thus, he chose to vent in a confessional, where he sat by the beach all alone.

_"Tribal Council was quite... interesting. Not the way things were intended to be, at least on my end. I thought that I was following everyone's instructions. Last time I remember before traveling to Tribal Council, I have been informed that the plan was to simply vote for Foxy. Not wanting to hurt my game anymore at this point, I figured that it was in my best interest to be a good student and followed what my professor informed me to do. ...Regardless, the vote never turned out the way it was supposed to. How come no one informed me of the real plan? I doubt I've shown any interest in strategizing with Foxy again (even though I still had the desire to), yet this vote is giving me a message that for some reason, I am still not trusted."_

Zelda found the time to interact with him for a bit. "I suppose you have quite a few questions tonight..."

He shook his head with a heavy sigh. "I... I just do not understand, Zelda... I do not... What have I done this time? Did I say something that someone likely took the wrong way?"

"No..." She turned her head side to side to assure him. "As far as I'm concerned, I am pretty sure you have shown the Chatan Alliance your loyalty."

"How come I was left out of the vote, then?" The swordsman felt that his question was never quite answered at the time. "I have done nothing outside of doing what I was told to do. Foxy was the target, I've written down the target, and my perception is that I am still someone that is not trustworthy? I... I am confounded to say the least..."

"Well,... my honest opinion on all this is that they still do trust you..." She figured that Marth was getting the wrong idea. "However, between you and me, Sheik felt as if Knuckles was basically one of your options to progress further in the game as a duo. Having his name out for elimination was a way to cut off one of your options in your game for the future. She just let you and Knuckles write down Foxy for... safety precautions."

"..."

"..."

He glanced down. Zelda, no. _Sheik_ was not entirely wrong. However, Marth assumed he never had enough votes to align with Foxy once more anyway, even with Knuckles remaining by his side.

_"Zelda enlightened me of the real plan shortly after, saying that it was Sheik's idea to blindside Knuckles in order for me to have less power in the alliance. ...Now, I will say this: she has a valid point. After all, I did bring in Knuckles **so **that I would gain more power in the alliance after what happy at the Freddy blindside..." Suddenly running out of words to say, he heaved an even greater sigh before, slapping his own right hand on his face. "I don't know... Maybe I am simply upset at the situation rather than at anyone in particular... Things just haven't been going right for me lately and perhaps this frustration is everything I've felt within the past week... Only the Survivor Gods are aware of where I stand in the competition at this point."_

Aside from Marth's little rant, Foxy was the one other survivor that was more upset about his position in the game than the blue-haired castaway was about his own. Sitting by himself at the tribe flag, he stared at the ground lost in his own thoughts. When a mind ran wild, for some, it was best to simply be alone. Yet unlike most situations, due to the fact that it was the night the group returned to camp following a Tribal Council, it was one of the few times where someone like Foxy actually got away with it. Otherwise, his fellow competitors would have most likely assumed that he was off idol hunting.

_"Okay... Yet another... **possible** ally gone down the toilet... Not even though strategy wise, me and Knuckles weren't exactly on the best of terms, due to our history, I'd say, at least for me, that there was still some level of automatic trust between us, even if just a bit. Him leaving the game was both an advantage **and **disadvantage at the same time. Sure, glad it wasn't me, but... unlike with most of the others, at least he aligned with me at **some **point in the game. I would have had no problems whatsoever working with him again. Yet like Bonnie, due to obvious reasons, I can't freaking do that... It **sucks**..."_

"Okay..." Sheik managed to re-group her alliance minus Marth. "I'm pretty sure we can do it _this_ time. Let's already get this conversation over and done with so we can all have a peaceful morning tomorrow. ..._Foxy_. Right?"

"Agreed." Shovel Knight felt he never needed to be asked twice. "I believe that if we leave him in the game any longer, he would come up with some other scheme in an attempt to eliminate one of us out of here."

"I'm on board." Luigi smirked. "You know, I haven't won an immunity yet. So,... I guess maybe if I of all people have to win against Foxy in order to save the day and let him go home, then I'm all over it."

_"I know that we all had a healthy discussion of being all on your own at the Tribal Council. But it doesn't mean that I certainly feel... **glad** about it. ...I don't feel good at all. I have no one to rely on and I'm against five other people on a stranded island all in order to win a million dollars. Every last member of my crew is either already gone or not in a position to work with me anymore. I've worked my butt off to get out here and I've put my tail on the line for **multiple** people out here and now here I am, everybody strategizing and coming up with eighteen million ways to get Captain Foxy out of here while I'm just forced to just sit and wait... Now you **tell** me that I should probably** somehow** feel good about all this... since suppose people like Bonnie, Freddy, Knuckles, you know, even **Shadow **are probably all rooting for me to make it all the way just to avenge them, since they all had to be sacrificed by some way it seems just so that their captain can win it all in order for them to receive their closure and make them happy... And with my family and friends also watching, I- …"_

_To avoid anyone seeing his tears, he buried his face into his knees, his arms being used as an extra shield just so he had the moment to get himself together, since there was quite a bit of silence following his last word._

_..._

_"..." Slowly, but surely, his head finally lifted. His eyes were rather red when they were visible, yet he did not care. "Y-You know what,... t-they are all rooting for me. If it has to be me versus everyone, then it's Foxy versus everyone. If **I** am their last hope out here, then I am going to do **everything** within my power to make sure I'm sitting there at that final three. I will use every bit of strength that I have to make sure I am there to represent them. Not just getting to the end alone, but to get to the end and **win**. I will not give up out here, and I will not give up on all the people that have helped get where I need to be today. Captain Foxy is still alive and he will continue to fight... And even if my fire does in fact get put out, at least I can say that as a **knight**, I have died fighting. So to everyone that is still rooting for me, hope you're ready. This is for **you**."_

_And he ended it off with a big point directly at the camera._

* * *

**Day 36**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The final six of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights all came in one by one, entering the challenge area.

"Time for another new Survivor challenge..."

Judging by first impressions, with the castaways' eyes all glancing at a couple of the items that were used to be a part of said challenge, it was certainly something that no one witnessed prior to their season.

"So... shall we get to it?"

They all were motivated enough to get going.

"First things first, Shovel Knight, for the second time, I will have to take the necklace back."

"Very well." He nodded in respect. "I shall meet you halfway, master, and hopefully I can win it again."

By the time he took the necklace back, he was ready to elaborate on the instructions. "Alright, so like I said, this is a new endurance test. Here's what you're gonna do. Other than Shovel Knight, the rest of you will officially feel as if you are a knight for the very first time. Each of you will be holding a weapon."

...

They all stood in silence, although a bit shocked all the while.

"You all are going to be holding a wooden sword in your dominant hand, pressing it firmly in the center of a wooden shield, while it is being pushed up against a board that is high above. Your objective is rather simple: hold it up for as long as you can. If you drop your sword, or if you shield falls, you are out of the challenge. Last person remaining, wins immunity, and it is guaranteed a spot in the final five. We'll draw for spots and we'll get started."

Even Shovel Knight was looking forward to it. "I've never even done this with my shovel. This will be interesting..."

-/-

"Alright, here we go. Everyone is in position and this challenge is officially _**on**_..."

...

Most likely one of the most awkward positions the group of survivors have ever been in. Each of them held a grip on the wooden sword handle, looking above to see the tip of the weapon in the center of the wooden shield, being held directly beneath the board that allowed it to remain stationary. Basically, the strategy was to keep that shield in place no matter what happened.

Easier said than done.

"Brand new Survivor challenge right here at the final six... Whether you are an emperor or a knight, endurance relates to all of you in some way." Master Hand figured. "No matter what you have gone through and what your reason is to be out here, you gotta ask yourself one question: 'how much strength do I have to get through those tough obstacles that I face?'"

No comments were made from anyone. Final six meant that there was quite a bit at stake. If one never even thought of his or herself concentration, it would have been a rather huge problem.

"Right now, you are trying to keep that one shield steady in between the sword and the board right above it to keep it in place. But after ten minutes,... we are going to add in another shield..."

Luigi sighed in reaction. Just his luck.

...

"Looking good so far..."

_**Elapsed Time: 4 Minutes**_

"Still hardly any movement from anyone..."

He spoke too soon. Only a few seconds after that statement, Luigi's grip began to loosen a bit, the shield slowly loosening as the seconds went on, the tip of his sword no longer being directly in the middle of said shield. Normally holding a grip on the handle would not have been a problem. However, not only there was the fatigue that always played a factor when it came to endurance, yet he also had to keep pressure on that board.

"Mamma Mia..." He mumbled to himself.

"Get your shield under control..." Master Hand warned.

The heat only made it easier for sweat to pour down Luigi's face.

In comparison, Foxy, who stood directly at him, stood tall and made sure his shield remained stationary, as if Foxy Michaels was nothing but a statue.

Yet eventually for Luigi, the shield got the better of him and collapsed to the ground.

"Oh..."

"Luigi, first out of the challenge. Go ahead and take your spot on the bench."

"Oh well." He shrugged it off and slowly made his way over. "At least I lasted more than a minute..."

"We're down to five left..."

_**Elapsed Time: 10 Minutes**_

"...Alright. Everybody is free to drop their shields." Master Hand announced, followed by the immediate noises of peoples' shields falling to the ground. "I'm gonna count you in. You have thirty seconds to place both shields on top of the tip of the sword, then slowly lift your sword up high until you feel that both of your shields are in place in between the tip of your sword and the board above them."

Being quick, yet careful, the remaining five done as they were told. They all placed grabbed both of their shields, while making sure they were directly on top of the tip of their swords, one by one, lifting up until they felt the board again.

Marth had some trouble with the balancing, yet he eventually made it on time.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... And we're gonna stay in this position for ten more minutes. Afterwards, you will add a third shield, and we're going to simply wait until the last person remains in this challenge."

"Hopefully it's me..." Foxy mumbled to himself.

His chances as a matter of fact just so happened to increase within the next minute, after Marth lost one shield too many.

"Marth's shield falls. He is out of the challenge. No shot at immunity..."

With no words, off he went, sitting directly beside Luigi.

"And just like that, we are down to _four_."

Shovel Knight, Sheik, Foxy, and Zelda. Three knights, one emperor.

"...Huh?"

"...Sheik drops! Out of the challenge out of nowhere! What happened?"

"I tried to make one small adjustment." She sighed in defeat making her way over. "Careless mistake of mine, but I'm fine. I'll just win in one of the other challenges..."

"Now we are down to _three_. Shovel Knight... Foxy... and Zelda..."

And all three were concentrating very well at the time.

_**Elapsed Time: 20 Minutes**_

"...Dang..." Sheik muttered.

"I do not know how are they doing it..." Marth watched his fellow competitors. "We probably would have had a winner by now..."

"Maybe they're all trying their hardest to prevent Foxy winning immunity?" Luigi guessed.

"Yeah, you're probably right." Sheik went with his theory. "Probably a bit more of that extra motivation that they need since none of us could do."

"Alright, you may drop your shields and you are safe. You have officially completed the second round."

Foxy sighed out of great relief, ready to move on.

"I'm gonna count you in. You once again have thirty seconds. But this time, you're gonna be balancing not one, not two, but _three_ shields at once on top of the tip of that sword where things are going to be more difficult than ever."

And so, the three of them got to work. Yet, it proved to be far more difficult than ever. Every time when one attempted to officially apply pressure against the three shields against the board, at least one of those shields would fall last minute.

"Easier said than done it seems..." Sheik commented.

"What are they gonna do if all three of them can't make it?" A curious Luigi asked.

"Shovel Knight's good. But if he drops one of his shields, he has to put them all up there again." The hand called. "Zelda and Foxy both have about fifteen seconds to get all three of their shields up. If they can't do it in time, Shovel Knight will automatically win his third individual immunity!"

Just more pressure for the both of them.

"10... 9..."

"They keep on falling..." A now panicked Zelda hastily continued to pick her shields off their ground and scrambled to get them in position right.

"8... 7..."

Foxy cursed under his breath. Every time he was getting ready to lift his wooden sword up, one of the shields just never stayed put.

"6... 5..."

Yet eventually, Zelda began to carefully, but quickly lift her weapon up, not taking too long for the shield on top to touch the board.

"4... 3..."

Due to the time limit, Foxy moved just a tad faster than Zelda, one of his shields touching the board as well.

"2..."

Although, right before he secured his position, it fell down right to the sand once again.

"1..."

...

"Time's up. Foxy, out of the challenge."

Standing there for a few seconds in disbelief, wanting to aggressively toss his shield far away to the ocean, Foxy Michaels gradually made his way over to the sit out bench.

"No shot at immunity..."

Luigi, Sheik, and Marth all were smart enough to tell that Foxy was clearly upset, especially given the expression on his face, he held no shame in hiding it whatsoever.

"We are now down to two people and two people only..." Master Hand moved on. "_Shovel Knight_..."

His eyes remained fixated on the shields.

"and _Zelda_..."

Her eyes on the other hand remained closed, her head never even looking up. Perhaps the Hyrulian figured it was best to not stare up for so long.

"both fighting for immunity. Zelda has yet to win a single immunity, Shovel Knight has already won twice." The white, gloved hand reminded. "Both of them wanting that immunity necklace for completely different reasons, all for the same cause: a spot in that final five. One step closer to a million dollars..."

...

However, not even within another minute, both of them began to struggle in their own ways. For Shovel Knight, the shield on top was rotating on its own, slowly separating itself from the other two shields. In comparison, Zelda began to repeatedly apply more pressure on the shields every she felt one of them began to move.

"Both struggling right out of the gate..."

...

Shovel Knight's shield was now on the edge of the board. And yet, at least he was somehow in a better position than Zelda is. All three of her shields were no longer in the same position as they were before. The tip of the sword was slowly moving away from the center. Obvious trouble for both of them at the end of the day.

"...!"

"Shovel Knight drops!"

Zelda immediately popped open her eyes.

"_**ZELDA WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

Sighing out of a giant relief, her large, warm smile was a signal it that represented one of the happiest moments for her on the season.

"Guaranteed spot at the final five!"

Shovel Knight sighed as well, but of course it was for a different reason. No immunity for him. Oh how he would have loved to tell Shield Knight that he won an individual immunity challenge for the third time. However, his new friend Zelda won for the first time, and he already had a certain item in the game that was set to give him security anyway, depending on either when, or even if he decided to actually use it.

Thus, he felt happy for Zelda. He was even the one that went out of his way to shake Zelda's hand.

"Good job, Zelda. I'm proud of you."

"Thank you."

"Zelda, for the first time in this game, you can come on over."

And as she made her way over to the Master Hand, she received a respectable round of applause. Even Foxy was smiling, all watching the host hook the Emperors vs Knights immunity necklace around her neck.

"You have literally no chance of going home tonight. Safe at Tribal Council, and you are officially heading to the final five. The rest of you, you already know the drill. After thirty six days, someone will be the fifteenth person voted out of Survivor, and will become the eight member of our jury. Grab your stuff, head back to camp. See ya tonight."

"...Except for one more thing..."

The moment everybody was set and ready to go, they all stopped from where they were and gave their master their undivided attention.

"...For three of you, including Zelda, this will be your last reward for this game."

They all stare out of their own astonishment. Why Master Hand never chose to simply announce that a reward was going along with whoever won the immunity challenge before it even commenced, perhaps they would never know.

"Zelda, choose one person to go with you on the reward."

Still being surprised that a reward was going to be given to certain individuals in the first place, none of her fellow members of her tribe made another reaction. Nonetheless, she had to think it through.

"...Sheik."

"Alright, Sheik. You're going."

"Oh wow, Zelda." She got up from the bench and made her way over. "You didn't have to do that..."

"Well, I had to choose somebody, and now I have to choose someone else."

"Indeed you do." Master Hand 'nodded'. "Choose one, more, person... Where everyone else will just eat... 'the usual' if you know what I mean..."

"Hmm..."

Aside from Shovel Knight still standing at his spot where he dropped out of the challenge, Foxy, Marth, and Luigi all remained at the sit out bench awaiting her answer.

"...Marth."

"Alright, Marth. Zelda's word is final. Come on over."

He exhaled deeply feeling elated. "You have my gratitude. Thank you."

Following him making his way over, now it was time for Master Hand to give his official, final instructions to the group. "Alright. Zelda, Sheik, and Marth, a feast will be waiting you in a separate area at your camp. Everyone else, got nothing for you. But I will see _ all of you_ tonight at Tribal Council."

_"I was so pleased when Master Hand announced that this was also a reward challenge. I found it to be a perfect opportunity. I've decided to take both Sheik and Marth with me on this reward for basically one main reason. Marth was not very happy at the fact that he was left out of the vote last tribal, and he feels that Sheik still doesn't trust him. However, like him, I am close with Sheik as well. I figured that maybe if the three of us came together, it would be grand opportunity for us to communicate with one another. Hopefully Sheik can understand of how Marth felt at the time, and Marth can maybe understand of where Sheik was coming from. Overall, my plan is to bring us three closer together than ever before. I actually have doubts that this would be something the people would expect..."_

* * *

**Alright, I'm later than ever before lol. Those of you who are guests reviewing the story, I do apologize lol. You all probably had to continuously click to my page finding out if my story has been updated or not.**

**But anyway, Foxy feels like it's him against the world, Marth is not happy with how things turned out, Foxy didn't win immunity, but Zelda did. And she decides to take both Sheik _ and_ Marth with her hoping for her to bring both Sheik and Marth closer to each other.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What are your thoughts on Zelda's decision?**

**2\. Could Foxy still survive the vote?**

**Chica from FNAF will officially be the next representative for the Beauty tribe for Survivor - Mexico, and Katt from StarFox is going to be on the Brawn tribe! (Now this is something Historyfan15 didn't expect lol.) Katt is being part of the Brawn tribe mainly for personality reasons. Chica on the other hand is because she kinda has a bit of backstory to it.**

**Vote for your top players this season and I will see you all on Saturday!**


	44. Chapter 44: Day 36 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 44 - Day 36 Part 2

**Welcome back to another chapter of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!**

**Final eight aside, let's fast forward to the current final six we have here: Zelda, Marth, Luigi, Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Foxy. Foxy is one hundred percent dead on the bottom against five other peple, Shovel Knight ****_still_**** has his idol, and ****_Zelda _****of all people won the individual immunity necklace after a brand new Survivor challenge. (I figured that I had to create at least one more new challenge, since this is a different season after all, even though challenges are without a doubt the hardest part when it comes to writing a Survivor story.)**

**Before we get to the story itself, I have another big announcement to make. This story is now officially the longest Fanfiction I've ever written in the 8-9 years I've been on this site, even surprassing Survivor - Kodai Island, and we haven't even reached the finale yet! I honestly didn't expect not one, but ****_two _****stories surpassing the 200k mark! And in spite of me being on here for almost a decade, I'm somehow accomplishing more than ever before these days. Guess this is what longevity means lol.**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yeah, that seems to be the case. But best case scenario, sometimes luck is just all you need to make it! As long as Foxy knows that, he just needs to hope.**

**Onto the chapter!**

**~KF**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 36**

* * *

_Shovel Knight, Foxy, Zelda, Marth, Sheik, Luigi_

-/-

While a rather large, black spider was preparing to devour a small bug that somehow ended up caught in its web, the final six contestants of Master Hand's show made it back to their beach to continue on with their day, which meant the usual routine: congratulate Zelda, strategize, strategize again, reminding each other of the Tribal Council, and leave the beach to be on their way.

Rinse and repeat.

"You did it, Zelda!"

"Nice performance! You just prevented me from winning immunity again!"

"Good job, Zel."

"Thanks, everyone. Never thought I would actually win it, but I guess the Survivor Gods really wanted me to win it today."

_"After thirty-six long days out here, I actually won individual immunity." She sounded rather elated as expected. "I actually had the urge to jump up and down with glee out of excitement, but then I thought that people would have seen that as gloating. But anyway, now that I have immunity, Foxy is one hundred percent vulnerable. All this makes it seem that it is possible that we could do a 5-1 on Foxy without making anyone mad, and then we're all final five. Luckily, I have both Marth and Sheik for the reward. So whatever the plan is, it is good that the three of us can bond together, Marth and Sheik hopefully coming to an agreement here."_

The three of them were fully taking advantage of the time they had with one another, with Sheik actually being the first to start off the conversation.

"Alright, so I think it's best for us to just get this over with." She started. "But to not make it seem like this strategizing is coming out of nowhere, I want to give my thanks to Zelda first."

"Agreed." Marth replied, turning to the only other emperor remaining. "You have my gratitude, Zelda. None of us even thought that it was the final reward challenge, and us three are the ones that got to be part of it."

"It was nothing." Zelda chuckled a bit. "My main reason for choosing you two to go with me is because that I think this is the perfect opportunity for us to communicate with one another. Perhaps we can all be officially on the same page."

"Not a bad idea. Not bad at all." Sheik had no problems with it, eating her forkful of spaghetti. Just like the final reward challenge of the previous season, the menu for today happened to be spaghetti, garlic bread, and chocolate cake. "So, the plan for tonight? It can be to either get Foxy out of the way, or... something else..."

"...What do you mean 'something else?'" The final part of the ninja's statement certainly made Marth wonder, as well as Zelda.

Impa's student sighed. "...Okay, Shovel Knight has the idol."

"..."

"..." Sheik laughed at the somewhat unsurprised faces from her fellow competitors. "No words at all?"

"Well, the numbers are winding down and we figured that he was most likely to have it at this point." Marth replied. "...So I assume you were somehow leaning towards him instead of Foxy?"

"I..." She sighed in defeat. "_Yes_... I mean, Foxy approached me saying that he was my biggest threat in this game. I wasn't considering on voting him out last time because, what happened? He won immunity."

"Hmm..." Zelda thought out loud, shewing a bee away. "Well, I am pretty sure Foxy was the one who put your name down last tribal... Now that I think about it, all this could mean that Foxy probably pitted you and Shovel against each other. In an attempt to save his life, he probably approached both you and Shovel Knight to go after each other."

"That could most likely be true." She agreed, now taking a bit of her piece of chocolate cake. "Not only he was saving himself, he... actually gave pretty valid reasons to why both me and Shovel should turn on each other. He has an idol, he's a social threat, and he's already bringing Luigi to the end. ...If he gets to the end, then he probably wins this game... And I wouldn't be surprised if he votes me out before then..."

_"I'm still thinking about Shovel Knight..." Sheik confessed. "Foxy was right, but probably the only reason why I didn't vote for him because he had the necklace. I was never going to put down Luigi because he's someone that I'm also taking to the end. However, this time, Shovel is actually vulnerable to be voted out. Soon to be fifteen Tribal Councils and he has yet to play his idol and this is the second to last opportunity that he can play it. He plays it at five, I'm screwed since he could very well win the final immunity challenge. He already won two like I did. Why wouldn't I vote him out?"_

"If we were to go after Shovel Knight, I believe that now would be the perfect time." She continued. "He's probably expecting us to go after him at five, and then my name is written down. Better to get rid of him before he gets rid of me. ...I just want to know of what do you guys think of letting Foxy in on the plan..."

"...I..." Marth spoke, sipping his tea with lemon. "I actually doubt that his vote would be required to blindside Shovel Knight. He's still on the bottom and he has to go as well. Perhaps it would be best for us three to write down Shovel, have those two write down Foxy, and then it would just be whoever Foxy votes for, and together, all three of us are safe for the final five."

"..." The only Chatan member of the three eventually nodded in agreement. "Hmm... You have a point. That could work..."

_"I believe Zelda made a good move here." Marth opinionated. "Now, even though I was sort of down that I was left out of the previous vote, I figured that one way Sheik would completely earn my trust if I... express to her that I would be willing to not work with Foxy in order to put her at ease. Showing that I care more about us three working together rather than just me working with Foxy would hopefully truly make a difference this time. ...However, in the back of my mind, Foxy is still an option for my game. If I still feel that things are not going as planned, maybe I could rely on Foxy for extra support, since I'm pretty much the only person he completely trusts at this point..."_

At the camp, Foxy Michaels was seen digging beneath the tribe flag, not even checking to see if there was anyone watching his back.

_"You know what, at this point I'm only looking out for myself. I've already tried to pit Sheik and Shovel against each other. But now since I didn't win immunity **again** this time, my next step is to see if I can find another idol out here. Two idols have already been played this season, so I know there's another one out there. Just need to look in the right places. I'm still trying to be sneaky, but I think I'm probably spending more time out here looking for idols than I should. Regardless, even if someone sees me, I don't know how much I will even care..."_

Yet the moment when he saw Marth heading in his direction (apparently already returning from the reward, he almost instantly covered up his digging spot and pretended that he was just relaxing by the tribe flag by himself.

"Hello..."

"Hi..." The fox replied. "So, how was it?"

"The reward is nice, I'll admit." Lowell responded. "However, that is not the reason why I'm approaching you. I'm approaching you just because I figured that you should know that I am still willing to work with you if you want."

"Really?" He popped an eyebrow.

"Positive. Besides Zelda, you are the only true ally that is left for me..." He wished he could have stayed with him just a bit longer, though Shovel Knight was seen heading their way. "Here comes Shovel... Maybe we'll talk right before tribal, but if anything comes up, I'll make sure you know."

"Alright, thanks..."

And with that, he walked away shortly before the shovel wielder approached the fox.

"...Hello..." Before Foxy could reply, he rotated his body to see Marth head out of his sight, seemingly heading back to the shelter from where he came. "...What did he tell you?"

"He was just checking in on me because he figured that I wondered what the reward was like..."

"Okay..." Moments later, he finally faced his taller opponent. "..."

"...?" The next thing Foxy Michaels knew, he found Shovel Knight facing back and forth between the direction Marth came and himself. "What's wrong?"

The knight finally exhaled deeply staring at the sand while gradually shaking his head. "I don't know... Everybody seems to be all over the place as of late... Ever since camp life before the Knuckles vote..."

"You talked everyone much lately?" He blinked and cocked his head.

"...Actually,... not as much as usual." That answer was actually a bit surprising. "I mean, I try to not be too paranoid around here, because at times it can be one's downfall. Though since we went from thirteen to six rather quickly, if anything, Sheik should be talking to me more than usual. Luigi is fine. I have no concerns regarding him... But, Sheik has always been one of my closest allies. ...Yet these days I'm starting to feel as if she's slowly distancing herself from me, and spending much more time with Zelda and probably even Marth of all people..."

Foxy snickered. "Is that so? ...Well, if you want to vote her out, I'm right here. Haha!"

_"Ever since I found the hidden immunity idol for my tribe, what is the worst fear when someone has it in their possession? Being blindsided with the idol in their pocket. Greninja informed me of multiple situations where people are blindsided with idols in their possession, wasting perfect opportunities for them to be played... I simply do not want to be one of those people. Honestly, at times I wonder why I even still have it. There were parts of me that considered on playing it a long time ago. ...Though it is the only idol I have. Thus, I need to use it wisely. ...If people are talking behind my back, and... if they are actually considering on making a big move and getting rid of me, maybe it is best for the hidden immunity idol to finally come into play... Then again, if it turns out that the idol that I have is not needed, I am but a fool. That's where the other half of me is telling myself to not be paranoid and save it for the final five, where you are certain to be guaranteed final four."_

"..."

"..."

"I do not want to be sent home by the others, but then again, I do not want to look too paranoid... If worse comes to worse,... perhaps I might need you to write down either Sheik or Marth... just as a way to test my alliance... I'll speak with Luigi about this..."

"What are your reasons for both of 'em though?"

"Well, Marth really wasn't a priority in the alliance." He elaborated. "If she is somehow not lying, getting rid of him, I doubt it would do much. It would just show that we should communicate properly. The plan for them is to vote for you after all... But I'd work with you if I feel that things are rather not going a certain way. And for Sheik? That is in case I do find out that I am her target and we need to write her name down in return."

_"Well, what do you know?" Foxy could not have been more elated. "Music to my ears. A perfect opportunity for me to take. If Shovel wants Sheik out, of course I'm gonna do whatever Shovel wants me to do. Though since he probably has the idol and if he is in fact finally going to play it, there's still the possibility that my name is going to be written down anyway. So in order to prevent that, I need to play up that Sheik is in fact going after Shovel, who I do prefer to go home by the way. I mean if I get to stay, I need to take full advantage. Getting rid of Sheik will be the best thing in the world. Now I have to convince both Shovel and Luigi to vote her out. ...Turns out peer pressure isn't so bad after all."_

-/-

"I mean,... something is telling me that I am simply being far too paranoid..." He was now wandering with the plumber in the forest. "But then again,... I do not want to be the fool that gets sent home due to a wasted opportunity that I could have took in a heartbeat... I've already spoken with Foxy, yet I desire to hear you out as well in case if there is anything you might want to say... just in order to... calm my nerves down a little bit."

"I can't imagine what it's like to have a hidden idol because..." Luigi giggled with a hint of sarcasm. "look at me. I never found one."

"Then if anything, consider yourself lucky, since you are saved from all this paranoia going on for me right now..."

_"I am kind of worried for Shovel, you know?" His back leaned against a rock thinking everything over. "This isn't like him. I have **never** seen Shovel Knight this worried before. You know something is up. But hey, he's helped me out so many times. Why not do the same for him? All I really have to do is to picture him as if he's my older brother..."_

"Um,... I mean, if you really feel that Sheik is not talking to you as much as she used to, then I suppose you have to follow your gut on what you believe to be true..."

"..." He lifted an eyebrow.

"..." Luigi Mario sighed with a bit of frustration. "I'm sorry... I'm not so good at this..."

His friend still giggled placing a hand on his back. "You're fine, Luigi. From what I am getting is that you simply want me to feel confident, since you are probably thinking that I'm not my usual self."

_"I mean, last time I checked, the plan was to finally vote out Foxy. But out of nowhere, he's telling me that he feels that worst case scenario, Sheik is targeting him with Marth and Zelda behind his back and plans to vote him out with an idol in his pocket. ...Now clearly I can't state my side of the story, since I don't have one, because I haven't heard anything about anyone wanting to blindside Shovel at all... Then again, perhaps like Bonnie and Foxy, they probably think that me and Shovel are getting too close, which I wouldn't be surprised. First Marth and Roy, then Sheik and Greninja, then Bonnie and Foxy, now us. It's a whole pattern... Though if that's the case, that does in fact worry me as well, because then that basically means that I myself am not being spoken too as much... People may be telling the truth, but then it's not hard to see where Shovel is coming from..." He all of a sudden buried his face in his hands. "Now I feel like someone has punched my gut... What am I to do..."_

* * *

**Night 36**

* * *

It was the final Tribal Council before the finale of the season were to begin, and the final six went right to business, all entering the Tribal Council area approaching the remaining six seats that were left for them to sit on. Placing down their torches, they were ready to face the jury once more.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury... Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie,... and Knuckles voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Foxy did nothing but blink and smirk briefly upon seeing the seventh place finisher of the season, watching him sit down in his spot and simply stare back.

"...Knuckles?"

The echidna suddenly faced Marth's direction, catching him mouthing his name at the corner of his eye.

"...I didn't know..."

He nodded in understanding. "You're good..."

"Alright..." Master Hand knew who he wanted to speak first. "So Foxy, we'll kick things off with you since you probably had a feeling that you were going to be spoken to first."

He nodded in confirmation. "I did..."

"...Any changes?"

Eyeing each individual one by one with one big head turn, he hunched his shoulders. "Not that I know of. All I know is that Foxy Michaels is still, and will probably always be public enemy number one until day thirty-nine, even if I actually get there..."

"Luigi, why is Foxy being painted as public enemy number one?"

"Well, based on what everybody else thinks about Foxy, he is the main threat here because we all feel that he's been strategically sneaking his way through the game underneath our noses. ...Now luckily enough at the final eleven, _I _wasn't the one that was voted out." He recalled one of those dreaded times where he was literally one vote away from a shocking elimination. "Foxy and his alliance have been working behind the scenes which was something we never expected. Marth and Zelda saved my life, and then Sheik saved my life at the final nine to make sure we have the majority back. But based on the other Tribal Council where Foxy betrayed Bonnie to save himself, from that moment it really showed how big of a player Foxy is."

"Now Sheik, going into the last Tribal Council, Foxy was still public enemy number one, but then Knuckles ended up getting blindsided instead. Why do you think that was the case?"

Knuckles even leaned in to make sure he heard every word that came out of the ninja's mouth correctly.

"Alright, here was the thing..." She begun her explanation. "Knuckles and Foxy were the two biggest physical competitors remaining in the game, with both having the chance to win their way to get to the final three. They literally even competed against each other at the final twelve. And at the end of the day, we found Knuckles to be a little more dangerous than Foxy at the challenges. And since Foxy didn't win immunity today, we figured that if Knuckles was still in the game and if _he _won immunity, then that tells us that we might have in fact made the right choice."

"Well Foxy," Master Hand spoke again. "you once again don't have the necklace. Though, just as last time, as well as many other times in Survivor, just because you're on the bottom, doesn't mean that it's impossible for you to reach the end. For all you know, the majority could once again vote off one of their own and save you for later, even though there are the final two immunity challenges that have yet to take place."

"That's just what I'm hoping for." He bobbed his head up and down. "And if anybody needs my vote, all they need to do is to tell me what to do. I don't care which of these five people get their torch snuffed tonight because as long as good ol' Captain Foxy is still sitting right here by the time this tribal is over with, I have no reason to complain. Just as long as it's not him."

"You really learn from the legends of Survivor, do you?"

"Indeed." He grinned largely. "I don't blame people for saying that. I already don't have any sort of control over this tribe, anyway. Deciding who gets to go home is something _they _have to worry about."

"Now Zelda, Foxy is saying that since you all are in the majority, that you guys are the ones that have to do all the work in deciding who is going to get their torch snuffed tonight while Foxy simply waits until he's given the word. One could take advantage of the situation and use Foxy as a shield even though it is this late."

"Exactly, master." The brunette completely agreed. "That is the scariest part of it all when it comes to the ones that are out of the loop. Worst case scenario, everyone could be thinking of blindsiding me rather than take out Foxy. All I can say is that it is a good thing that I've won the immunity challenge today."

"Although, Marth, unlike Zelda, you _don't _ have the necklace today." The host pointed out. "If people are in talks of getting rid of you, what would your plan be?"

"I suppose that depends of why do I feel as if I am being targeted. Even if I was, I assume it would probably be because of my history throughout the game. I also would not be surprised, say if I was on the chopping block for simply being an emperor. Not saying that is the mindset of the original Chatan members at the moment, but just as an example, since there are four Chatan members and two original Nago members. But I only say this as an example since the last two voteoffs were both original members of the Knights tribe. And of course Foxy didn't start this game on the Emperors tribe and he's the one that is on the chopping block."

"So Shovel Knight, if you are expecting things to be going your way tonight as far as the vote is concern, how confident are you tonight?"

"I'd say I'm confident enough." He briefly nodded. "Just as long as I am still on good strategic terms with my alliance, then all will be well. …I mean, clearly I feel sorry for Foxy. So if he is in fact the one that is going to be on the jury, then the most I can say is that I enjoyed these last, final moments with him."

"Appreciate it." He thanked him without looking over.

"He's always being nice to everyone." Bonnie mumbled to no certain jury member in particular. "That's why his name was written down before I went home..."

"Alright. It is time to vote. Shovel Knight, you're up."

Let the voting session once again begin. The only Shovel Knight character got up to the urn to cast his vote, Zelda shortly following suit.

"Honestly, I think that everybody's a threat to get to the end based on different circumstances. Let's hope that I'm taking out the _right _threat for tonight."

Luigi and Sheik were the next ones up to have their shot at the urn, Foxy being the second to last to have his time.

"No comment."

It was a first for the Survivor series. The closest thing to a person having the words 'no comment' being expressed at a voting confessional is when that certain individual chose to share no comments at all, rather than Foxy literally stating those two words.

Once Marth sat back down, Master Hand was ready to get the show on the road.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

"What are the chances of Foxy surviving tonight?" Bonnie whispered to Knuckles.

"...I'd say fifty percent..." The Mobian guessed.

With none of the current competitors doing much, the hand came back to place the urn on the table.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, now would be the time to do so..."

Shovel Knight eyed the rest of his tribe to see if anyone was going to react, as well as Marth, only because he found Shovel to be doing the same thing.

"...Alright, Master Hand. That's it. I'm afraid I can not hold onto this idol any longer."

Everyone at Tribal Council gave Shovel Knight their undivided attention as he went through his bag to pick something he held onto since day eleven.

"About time..." Roy muttered from the jury.,

"He's has that thing for twenty-five days..." Greninja did the math.

Luigi heaved a sigh at all this, watching Shovel Knight hand over the idol to the Survivor host, calmly sitting back down in his spot.

"This _is_ a hidden immunity idol." He confirmed. "Any votes cast for Shovel Knight will not count... I will read the votes..."

Once he uncapped the urn, the actual knight of the group felt a major pit in his stomach.

"First vote..."

"...?"

"...Shovel Knight. Does not count."

"..."

Marth curled up his lips.

"...Shovel Knight. Does not count."

The blue armored hero heaved a great sigh of relief, Foxy shaking his head with arms folded.

"...Shovel Knight. Does not count. Still no votes for anyone."

...

"Foxy."

With no words, he simply slowly held his back staring up into the night sky out of annoyance.

"One vote Foxy."

Freddy looked rather saddened.

"...Marth."

It was that vote where suddenly nearly everyone was rather stunned and confounded, including Zelda, Sheik, and Lowell himself.

"...Where did Marth come from?" Sheik mouthed.

"One vote Marth, one vote Foxy, one vote left..."

Roy's jaw had dropped, watching his friend facepalm himself.

"Fifteenth person voted out of Survivor and the eighth member of our jury..."

"..."

"..."

"...Foxy. You need to bring me your torch."

"Okay, then... That's it..." He got up from his spot. "No hard feelings, and I wish you guys luck. Don't let anything or anyone hold you back from winning the million."

"Bye, Foxy!" Sheik smiled.

"So long, cap'n!" Shovel Knight gave him a salute.

"The captain will be with the rest of his friends at Ponderosa." Foxy replied, turning his head towards Master Hand.

"Foxy, the tribe has spoken."

_Snuff_.

"Time for you to go."

With no other words coming from, he calmly made his way down the stairs and out of the tribal.

Shovel Knight exhaled once again. Now he had another thing to worry about.

"Well, here are two things here." Master Hand said. "The first thing is that you finally got rid of Foxy. However, the second thing is that clearly not everyone written his name down. Perhaps this was when people in this case actually wanted to target somebody else, and Foxy was never the plan for some of you tonight. Turns out that not everybody was on the same page after all. But no matter what, only two more votes to go. You all make the final five. Only two more tribals after this, and you would never have to worry about voting someone out ever again for this season. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

* * *

_"I was told by Shovel Knight to write down Marth tonight, but he and Luigi decided to vote me out anyway. Maybe I was still somehow more threatening in the game to them. But for whatever reason why, if there is one thing I need to say is that I love this game. I wanna give a few shoutouts... Freddy, Bonnie, Clyde, Val, mom, dad, and to everyone that is in my Pirate Crew from back at home, sad to tell you that I didn't win... But I still had the absolute time of my **life**."_

* * *

**_Votes:_**

**Zelda**** \- _Shovel Knight_**

**Marth**** \- _Shovel Knight_**

**Luigi**** \- Foxy**

**Sheik**** \- _Shovel Knight_**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Foxy**

**Foxy**** \- Marth**

**-/-**

**2-1-0**

* * *

**So even if Foxy has finally being eliminated, by the way the votes went, he wasn't even supposed to go home for some people lol.**

**Anyway, Shovel Knight has held his idol for 25 days. He didn't break the record, but if there was a top ten on the longest time someone has held an idol, he would definitely be on the list.**

**Now that Foxy has been eliminated, allow me to introduce you to a brand new miscellaneous character from the next official franchise that is set to be introduced in this fic. On the brain tribe, meet Jimmy Hopkins from a game called "Bully" back in the mid-2000s where he is the protagonist. I've made the decision to put him on the brain tribe, since I figured he can come up with such creative ways to target his enemies and everything. Though I haven't really thought about how canon his backstory is going to be yet.**

**But anyway, onto the next character. You wanna know who else is going to be on the brain tribe? Golden Freddy (who's name for the story is going to be called "Golden") the second and final FNAF character for the season, mainly for his intelligence when it comes to his backstory. (No, he's not going to be related to Freddy in this).**

**Questions:**

**1\. Thoughts on Foxy finally going home?**

**2\. When it comes to Shovel Knight and Sheik, who would be eliminated first?**

**3\. Thoughts on the two new castaways?**

**As stated before, Bonnie's Ponderosa chapter is up for all to see! Also, vote for your top players this season, watch the YouTube intro if you haven't already done so, and I encourage everyone to review. See ya for the next chapter!**


	45. Chapter 45: Day 37

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 45 - Day 37

**(Knuckles's Ponderosa chapter has been released! And guess what? I'm went from late to being really early this time. lol)**

**Hello, everyone! It's officially time to head into the finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights! Dang, already!? Last time I checked, this story started on September 25, 2019, barely even five months since it started and it's already ending!? Dang... And Survivor - Mexico is only a couple months or so away (haven't even thought of when that season is gonna start...). But it's too early to think about that right now. So anyway, let's get started.**

**If this is actually your very first exposure to Survivor (ever), what they do in the actual series is that all the contestants that competed on the season get to return to a live reunion show where the host reflects on the season with the castaways and all the major events that occurred, with details of the next season set to air. For my series, the finale is going to start at five. Some of the modern seasons of Survivor, for the most part, their finales start at six. But the problem is that they are almost always a bit rushed, since they gotta get through three challenges, three boots, four Tribal Councils, and then the reunion show. That is a lot. Having it at five greatly makes things easier, and I'm trying to pretend like this is an actual season LOL.**

**Now that you have some type of idea, let's officially get things started as we begin to start reflecting on what the season has become...**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yep. After all this time this might be just what their relationships has come to.**

_**Derick Lindsey:**_** The record for a person having an idol has been for thirty-five days, ten days longer than Shovel Knight (but Shovel might be in top 5 or even top 3 I'm guessing (need to research even more)). But as of the latest season going on in Survivor, there has not been a single soul out there that has found an idol on day one.**

**~KF**

* * *

_**FINALE - PART I**_

* * *

Backstage at the Live-Super Smash Ultimate Studio Center, Master Hand came into view as he began to make his way onto the main stage.

"We are live at SSU backstage in Los Angeles!" He explained to the audience watching from home. "_Welcome_ to the season finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!"

Upon him finally getting to the main stage, the audience that sat in front of him all created a major uproar in the Studio Center.

"And as you can see, we got quite the crowd tonight! All here to not only support the ones that have made it this far, but for all _twenty_ castaways that have competed on this season. You know why? Well, because after the season finale, they will all be here for our live reunion show after our winner is revealed. But first, we gotta finish things off. Let's take a moment to go over some of the events that occurred this season thus far... And when that is out of the way, we will go over the _final five _contestants remaining in this game. _One of them_ will earn the title of Sole Survivor, as well as the million dollar check that goes along with it. Stay tuned and get yourself comfortable. We have two hours of Survivor waiting right in front of you. Let's go!"

And when the crowd created cheered yet again, the finale officially commenced.

* * *

_**For this season of Survivor, we divided twenty people into two tribes of ten...**_

_"This is Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" _

_**Ten emperors, ten knights. Both having rather different approaches to life...**_

_**Emperors**_

_**These ten players are all about taking matters in their own hands and leading others to victory in any way they can based off authority, domination, and positive reception...**_

_"I am aware that it's not everyday where an adolescent such as myself fights with a sword to protect his country, though that was the case for me. Typically it was my father's job of course, since he was the leader. But then he became very ill at the time, so I was called from home in order to fight and take his place. I had to help prevent the continent from suffering from a war. It has already happened once in the past, and neither my father, nor myself was willing to simply let it happen again. **Technically**, my adventure began when I was fifteen."_

_"I have a lot to learn out here." She giggled happily. "When I told everyone back in the Mushroom Kingdom that I was going to apply for Survivor, no one could believe it. They never expected a woman like me to be out here. But believe it or not, that's my whole thing. I think people generally perceive me as this sweet, loving 'princess' that doesn't like to get her dress all dirty. Now I am on a reality show with conditions like this. One would think that I would probably quit on day one as soon as I stepped foot on the island."_

**_Knights_**

**_These ten players are known for fighting through to the bitter end at any price, whether it is based on their work ethic, personal struggles, and pushing through to get out of tight situations to take control of their own fate..._**

_"The funny thing is that both me and my brother Mario applied for the show. We were both chosen, but they said that they wanted to get Mario out of the way first and save me for this new theme they are doing. Apparently I am supposed to be the perfect underdog here because of my own personal story. Back in the Mushroom Kingdom, people typically don't see me and my brother as two different people. They always perceive me as 'Mario's brother', or at worst 'the guy who is always in his older brother's shadow', or my personal favorite, 'green stache', which of course no younger sibling wants to hear. So I think that if I can do something out here, then perhaps people from back home will see me in a different light."_

_"Me and my trainer had um, been through a lot ever since we got together back in the day. Back when I was a newborn, both of my parents were nowhere to be found and I was actually half frozen to death. It was the month of January when he found me, and I was struggling in the snow. He found me and then took me in. I know he's still a kid, but I feel like I'm a son to him somehow, when my biological parents are most likely not even... I... All I can say is that without Calem I don't think I'll be here."_

**_Since the start of the game, these two tribes demonstrated completely different strategies out of the gate..._**

_"The Emperors tribe is all over the place to say the least. Myself included. I bet those knights over there are wondering what we are doing and how the heck are we playing the game. Everybody over here is wondering how they can take control of the game, and when you have ten people that all share that trait at one time, **we're** the ones that are likely to be dysfunctional over here because everyone is used to having things go the way they want. And so, literally every single person over here is playing their own individual game while the Knights tribe is probab__ly all about team effort right now."_

_"The problem with having a divided tribe is that say if we enter a swap or a merge, the emperors will obviously know what's going on when the people on the bottom explain to them the events that are occurring over here. It is not impossible that the emperors will use it to their advantage and bring them in and use them against us in the long run, and then we're all going to be out of the game. So as tribe, it is our best interest to get rid of them, before they possibly get rid of us."_

_**But despite the different strategies, both tribes had to go to Tribal Council, resulting in shocking blindsides...**_

_"Second person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Cloud. That's five, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."_

_"Third person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Ghirahim."_

_**And they didn't stop there...**_

_"Fifth person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights... Mega Man."_

_"Seventh person voted out of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Krystal. That's two, that's enough. You need to bring me your torch."_

_**At merge, it seems that the roles were reversed. Six emperors, against six knights...**_

"_Seven knights, six emperors... Seems like the merge is pretty sweet. I was just thinking about my swapped tribe of Chatan having just four people, but we all survived. But now, the top dogs entering the merge with numbers would have been expected, and I was preparing myself to deal with being on the bottom for a while, but surprisingly things worked out in **our**__ favor._"

_**However, some of the knights weren't exactly planning on sticking together...**_

_"So what are you thinking about?"_

_"Trying to figure out how the heck are we gonna save Freddy."_

_"...W-What?"_

_"...'Hidden Five Alliance?'"_

_"Win-win. Not only I kept my place in the Knights Alliance, but I've also have my Pirate Crew here... I would rename my alliance that, but then they would all think that I'm running the show... Well the audience can know that I'm calling it the Pirate Crew over here."_

_**Although, the moment where they finally wanted to make a big moves, things didn't exactly go as planned...**_

_"Luigi."_

_"Tenth person voted out of Survivor and the third member of our jury..."_

_..._

_"Shadow."_

_**With Shadow's departure, the Knights Alliance became a broken family...**_

_"Me, Foxy, and Bonnie planned to flip, because we felt that you four were running the show from day one. Greninja and Sheik? This entire time you two have been an all out power couple from the get go, and then Luigi and Shovel Knight joined in so you all can just dictate everything."_

_**As a result, the Pirate Crew slowly became decimated, even if there seemed to be light at the end of the tunnel for them, resulting in even more devastating blindsides...**_

_"I'll go ahead and play it..."_

_"Wait, really?"_

_"You didn't know?"_

_"No, I really didn't."_

_"Greninja."_

_"Like Sheik, I also have a Secret Advantage."_

_"This advantage is being used to... block your vote..."_

_"I am going to give you a choice. You can either come with us, or I will use this advantage to vote you out of this game."_

_"Freddy, the tribe has spoken."_

_**And even after Foxy used Bonnie as a sacrificial lamb, he just couldn't overcome the Chatan Alliance...**_

_"Foxy, the tribe has spoken."_

_"Sad to tell you that I didn't win... But I still had the absolute time of my **life**."_

_**Now, only five remain...**_

_**Zelda**_

_**Her entire game has been filled with ups and downs, with her being in trouble quite a bit. Yet every time she was on the chopping block, she survived every time...**_

"_**THE KNIGHTS WIN THE FIRST IMMUNITY**** CHALLENGE!**_"

_"Peach."_

_"Ghirahim."_

"_**MOTOBU WINS IMMUNITY!**_"

_"Pac-Man."_

_"Roy."_

_"You know, part of me feels that I am generally surprised that I have made it this far. I could have been the first person voted out and let Peach take my place, or I could have been voted out again last night, and Pac-Man would have taken my place... But I'm still here, and unlike previously, I have no other options at this point. Perhaps it's the Goddesses that are looking after me at this point."_

**After all that she's gone through, would it all be for what she's hoped for? **

**Marth**

**He was the first castaway this season to find a hidden immunity idol and play it at the right time, even making a big move in order to take control of the game...**

_"Greninja."_

_"You're not going anywhere. **Trust me**..."_

**_But as a severe consequence for his flip, his vote got stolen from him at an epic Tribal Council, forcing him to join the opposing alliance as an extra number. And he was never able to get back in control since..._**

_"I felt as if I was pushed into a corner with a sword to my throat after failing to defeat my enemies, I was given an opportunity to either surrender or perish right on the battlefield... And even though I wished to keep fighting, based on the circumstances, I chose to surrender..."_

_**In spite of the circumstances he had to face, can he somehow be victorious?**_

_**Luigi**_

**_His main objective was to escape his older brother's shadow by making a name for himself, causing him to struggle in the early days of the game..._**

_"He's not exactly the strongest of the bunch, and he claims that he's bright at puzzles, using the first challenge to back him up. However, he didn't perform in that role today." _

_"If they all want Luigi out, then that's who I'm voting for."_

_"...I **really** rather see Luigi get his torch snuffed." _

_**However, he made a close relationship with Shovel Knight **__**who became his number one ally. And from that point on, he slowly began to evolve as other targets became a bigger priority for his opponents...**_

_"Since the threats are gonna be targeted first, I think I already know where I stand. So right now for my game, I am gonna try my best to not be on everyone's radar by stepping back and just do what everybody tells me to do so that I won't be seen as a threat." _

**_And since he's still in it, his strategy has paid off. Would him overcoming his personal obstacles be enough for the jury to give him the win?_**

**_Sheik_**

**_She's managed to make close relationships with alliance, while at the same time helping to make sure her tribe stays together to help get rid of some of the emperors..._**

_"...I really don't want a divided tribe..." _

_"Even if they say that they're with us, based on what happened last time, they might use it against us when we mix ourselves with the emperors and then they'll flip over, even though we're all bonding as much as we can over here..."_

**_However, what really made her perceived to be a top level threat is when she made one of the boldest moves in Survivor history..._**

_"I am going to give you a choice. You can either come with us, or I will use this advantage to vote you out of this game."_

_"Have you decided? Are you with us?"_

_"With me being a ninja, whenever you're on a mission, you make sure to get the job done. _Now Marth has no choice but to stay loyal to us, or else he's gonna be a target, because then we would find out that he's proving to be untrustworthy."

**She even attempted to make a turn on her closest remaining ally. But it didn't work out...**

"Shovel Knight. Does not count."

**In spite the most recent vote not being in her favor, could she overcome the massive target on her back to win it all?**

_**Shovel Knight**_

_**He's known for being well liked by everyone, making connections with as many people as possible, while staying true to his alliance.**_

_"And then, by the time me and my partner woke up around seven in the evening, it was getting rather dark out at the time, and we couldn't find our way back because we lost our map a while ago. So to survive we decided that we were going to make a campfire and go from there, and hopefully find our way back home the next day... which of course, we did, because here I am sitting here right now and not being mauled to death by a wild animal." _

_"...Let us sing that classic song made for children whenever it rains..."_

_"Shovel Knight is really interesting."_

_"It would be rather a shame for you to just go and not take one of these few, final opportunities to get to know you."_

"Y_ou gotta appreciate Shovel Knight. _ He doesn't come off as if he is forcing himself to make connections. He just realizes that these are the people that he's playing with."

_"Alright, Master Hand. That's it."_

_**And with a successful idol play at the last Tribal Council, like his close ally, Sheik, he is also been perceived as a major threat to win. Will his social game and likability win over the jury?**_

**With two more individual immunity challenges, three more Tribal Councils, and two more future jury members, who will have what it takes to Outwit, Outplay, and Outlast all the rest to earn the title of ****Sole Survivor****?**

**THIS IS THE SEASON FINALE OF SURVIVOR - EMPERORS VS KNIGHTS**

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Night 36**

* * *

Final five: Zelda, Marth, Luigi, Sheik, and Shovel Knight.

Two of these players were set to be the ninth and tenth members of the season's jury, while the other three were to make up the finals on day thirty-nine, with only one of them taking the money as well as being the Sole Survivor.

Said five castaways made their return at camp leaning their torches against the tree.

"Well,..." Luigi spoke. "At least Foxy is gone..."

Zelda chuckled a little. "I bet we can all agree on that. We're all in the same alliance, just not on the same page, even though Foxy is out of the picture."

"Good idol play, Shovel Knight." Sheik commented, even grinning respectably.

"Thank you." was all he responded with. "...So... It was you, Marth, and Zelda that put my name down, right?"

"Yeah..." She replied, now staring down at the ground with guilt. "I'm sorry..."

"Oh, no worries, Sheik." He did not know if it was the right response to make, yet he never wanted Sheik to feel bad about her decision. "If you honestly think that I am your threat, then there's nothing wrong with friendly competition. That's why we're all out here."

"...Thanks..." She blinked, suddenly chortling a bit. "This is quickly getting awkward... I guess our friendship is preventing us to separate, since that's what people typically do when they're against someone strategically."

The other three players were standing watching it all.

"Uh..." Luigi scratched his head. "Are we supposed to walk away at this point?"

"Oh no, you can stay if you want." Shovel held a hand out while still looking up to his opponent. "Anyway, um... I guess to avoid things from getting too awkward as you say,... You know what, let's have a handshake for the sake of Survivor."

_"Quite interesting to say the least. Let me break it down for the audience." The shovel wielder had the first official confessional of the finale. "I've played my idol at the Tribal Council, negating three votes... which means that **I **was the one that was supposed to go home tonight, and not Foxy. And it turns out that everyone in my alliance except Luigi flipped, and now I feel like I am the next to go. Though I think Sheik persuaded Marth and Zelda to put down my name and left Luigi out of the loop... So that's basically saying that I was right about Sheik betraying me before we left..."_

"I'll gladly take that." Sheik reached her hand out as well, and the two shook. "May the best Survivor win."

He smirked largely. "With all respect."

Marth Lowell facepalmed and laughed to himself.

_"And then, by the time we got back to the camp, she was not afraid to own up to her decision. But for a moment, we both kinda just stood there in silence. We were looking at each other straight in the eyes, but neither of us headed off in a different direction. We both just... stayed put... which is in contrast to what most people do in situations like this... And I think it was the result of our long-term friendship that prevented us from separating. And you know what? ...It's sort of amusing in a good way if I do say so myself, knowing that Sheik is most likely going to continue to gun for me. Both of us were well aware of what each other's games are like, so in the end, we did a little handshake. We're going to be at each other's throats strategically for the rest of our days out here, but I believe that our friendship will truly last even outside of this game."_

Shovel Knight happened the one that separated himself from Sheik as he prepared to turn in for the night, leaving Sheik alone with the others.

_She sighed. "This vote's gonna be the hardest of them all..."_

* * *

**Day 37**

* * *

"Come on in, guys!"

The castaways all made their way onto the sand, seeing the Master Hand on a bright sunny day, despite it overall being a rather wet season for the show.

"You guys ready to get to your next immunity challenge?" He made his way over to Zelda to unhook her necklace. "First things first, Zelda, even though you just won it yesterday, I still gotta take it back."

With no words, the necklace was placed back on its post once more. "Once again, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, you guys will balance a small metal ball on a wooden cylinder, while holding the center cylinder in place with two wooden handles. Every regular intervals, new pieces of the wooden rod will be added, making it harder to balance the ball on the center cylinder. The castaway who balances their ball the longest will win immunity, safe from the vote, and will officially earn their spot at the final four. Losers, Tribal Council where someone will be the sixteenth person voted out of Survivor and will then become the ninth member of our jury. We'll draw for spots, we'll get started."

"Let's-a go..." mumbled Luigi.

-/-

"Alright. Let's get this started." He began to gave instructions. "Everybody put your balls in the ball in the center, grab your handles, and raise 'em up."

Doing what they were told, Sheik, Marth, Shovel Knight, Zelda, and Luigi in that order all held their cylinders up, already being focused before the challenge even began.

Yet it was about to start in a matter of seconds. "Alright. Everybody is in position and this challenge is on..."

...

"Nothing but silence... As expected." Master Hand commented. Other than his own voice, the only sounds that were made were when the waves crashed down on the beach nearby. "This challenge first began in Survivor - Micronesia as the final immunity challenge. Here's how it's gonna work: this first round will last for five minutes. And after those five minutes, we will add new pieces of the wooden rod on both ends, making it harder to balance your ball. Keep your focus and you'll be fine."

"Hopefully..." Luigi mumbled under his breath.

_**Elapsed Time: 5 Minutes**_

"Alright. Everybody is safe, you can drops your balls."

Upon hearing that announcement, literally everyone was relieved and expressed their feelings in different ways.

"Don't celebrate too long, castaways. Now I gotta count you in for round two." He reminded. "Attach two pieces of the rod. One on each side. I'm gonna count you in. You have thirty seconds to get it attached, and to have your bars lifted with the marble in the center."

When it came to challenges such as those, it was one of the toughest spots to get through, mainly due to quite a few castaways messing up at that certain stage, not being able to fully transition. Even a certain castaway from the previous immunity challenge was never able to transition properly, resulting in his elimination that night.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1... This challenge is back on."

Yet at the current challenge, everyone made it through without any major problems.

"We will stay in this round for five more minutes, and then we will move onto the final round where we will continue to stay here until we have an official winner for this challenge."

Shovel Knight sighed out of a bit of worry. He just wanted to win.

_**Elapsed Time: 7 Minutes**_

...

"...Uh-oh..."

"Luigi is struggling to get that marble under control..."

The plumber's ball was heading off too far to the right, slowly leaving the safe zone, forcing a large knot in his stomach with sweat coming down his face even faster than before.

However, he was not the one that had to worry about being first eliminated from the challenge.

"...Wow... Suddenly Marth's marble drops out of nowhere."

Sighing in defeat, he calmly exited the challenge area to allow his fellow competitors to concentrate.

"Oops..."

"Luigi is now out of the challenge, no shot at immunity. Go and take your spot right next to Marth." He pointed, the plumber a bit saddened by the lost, yet more at the fact that he was literally the only one of the four who never won immunity.

"And just like that, we are now down to three... Sheik, Zelda, and Shovel Knight... One emperor, and two knights."

_**Elapsed Time: 10 Minutes**_

"Alright, everybody. You can set your balls down once more. It is time for you all transition to round three."

Being relieved once more, they gladly set their bars down on the table.

"Now, you once again have thirty seconds to make your move. If you are unable to make the transition, you are out of the challenge and the round will continue on. Move quickly and carefully." Master Hand warned, the three remaining survivors attaching new pieces of the rod on both sides, Sheik even using the 'under-hand' strategy when it came to lifting her bar up.

Although, when it came to the situation being easier said than done, Shovel Knight was certainly proving as to why.

"10... 9... 8... 7... 6..."

Then suddenly last minute, the blue-armored warrior chose use Sheik's strategy for his own good during the last few seconds of the countdown, somehow holding everything together in time.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." He watched. "Alright, everybody seems to be safe and the challenge continues. We will remain in this final round until the last person is standing."

...

With no other words, Marth and Luigi simply continued to observe.

_**Elapsed Time: 17 Minutes**_

Not wanting to break anyone's concentration, Luigi whispered to Marth in his ear.

"I think if I sit on this bench any longer, I might take a nap for a little bit..."

Marth tried his best not to snicker and be disrespectful for the other competitors. "I... I do not actually blame you. I've heard that there is a record for one challenge back in season ten that lasted for about twelve hours."

"Oh..." He blinked. "I would be both tired _and _hungry... But it is not as if this is any kind of reward. There isn't any spaghetti around here... So I guess I gotta hope that Shovel Knight can win immunity..."

"..." It was his turn to blink. "You are basically saying that at the next tribal you are planning on putting Sheik's name down..."

"I... believe that it is my only choice..." Luigi actually never really thought about it. Though what Marth was saying might as well be true, he simply had no intention on writing down Shovel Knight at the time. "I mean, he has been my ally from the very beginning... However, I am almost certain that Zelda would want to keep Sheik around, so I'd say both of them have a fifty-fifty shot at surviving the vote..."

Now Lowell was frowning. "...So now you are saying that I am the swing vote for tonight's Tribal Council..."

"..." He shrugged. "Pretty much..."

"...Well,... at least that does make some sort of sense..."

"Sheik drops..."

With the master unintentionally cutting the side conversation off, they both stared to find out that Sheik was no longer in the running to win.

"We are now down the two. ...Shovel Knight and Zelda... Both looking really solid..."

_**Elapsed Time: 21 Minutes**_

"Zelda's marble is now wobbling... First time on the move in this entire challenge..."

The challenge was now receiving its full attention from the castaways, the only Hyrulian remaining in the competition seemed to be the one having a hard time with her ball, Shovel's still remaining solid in place.

However, within a dozen more seconds, his own ball began to have a mind of its own.

"Now both of struggling to get that ball under control..."

Both of them attempting at lifting one particular side up in order to get it balanced, yet it was almost as if the balls themselves grew tired of remaining in the same spot for over twenty minutes.

Yet at the end of the day, someone had to drop.

"...And there goes Shovel Knight's!"

"_**ZELDA WINS IMMUNITY! GUARANTEED A SPOT IN THE FINAL FOUR!**_"

For the second time that season, the brunette managed to pull off an immunity win.

Sighing in relief, he received a friendly hug from Shovel Knight, the others clapping for her out of respect.

"Good job, Zelda." Sheik commented. "You really deserve it."

"Whew... That felt as if I was there for hours... How long were we up here?"

"About twenty-two minutes." Master Hand confirmed. "But you guys won't be here for that much longer. Zelda, come on over here. Second immunity for this season."

She gladly made her way over.

"Good job, Zelda!" Luigi spoke.

"You are once again, safe tonight at Tribal Council, and you are one hundred percent making it to the final four."

"No reward this time?"

"Nope." He turned his hand side to side as if he actually had a head to shake. "Yesterday was your last reward. But, don't worry. At least you aren't going anywhere. As for everyone else though, for one of you, it might be a different story. I will see you all at Tribal Council where someone will be the ninth person on the jury. Zelda, it will not be you. Congrats."

"Thank you, master."

_"Once again, I am in the swing vote position in this game." Marth said with a brief sigh. "Who would've thought. I don't even think I did anything to be in this position. You have Zelda and Sheik on one side, Luigi and Shovel Knight on the other, and then there's me... I don't even know if I am even happy to be in this position, but I suppose I have no choice but to deal it and choose wisely. I go with Zelda and Sheik, I wouldn't be surprised if I was the next to go when we get to the final four. I go with Luigi and Shovel Knight, I'm probably **still** at the bottom of the final four. I don't know what's worse, especially since it doesn't make anything better for my game in particular..."_

* * *

**Bikutā**

**Day 37**

* * *

"Two times in a row, Zelda..."

"Yeah, good job. I might not have won immunity, but I still think it's great to see all of my friends winning one."

"Thank you, everyone. I am surprised I have won not one immunity challenge, but two challenges back to back..." The only female emperor remaining chuckled a bit. "And this is coming from someone that was not the best at challenges pre-merge."

_"Even though I am safe at the final four, I believe that it is Sheik who could be in danger tonight." Zelda stated sitting by the water. "...You know, part of me even feels as if I should have dropped and let Sheik win, but that of course was not possible, since had it not been for me, Shovel Knight would have won the challenge, and that would have put Sheik in an even worse position in the tribe. So I guess winning twice in a row was a good thing after all. Sheik has saved my life, now I have to save hers..."_

She was now standing in the water with her fellow Hyrulian.

"...I mean... It is you and me versus Shovel and Luigi..." She told her. "Marth is right in the middle and now he has to choose sides..."

"Yeah..." Impa's student confirmed to her that she was in fact aware of the situation. "Sucks... Ever since I blindsided Freddy my name has always been thrown out there by somebody... Now it's Shovel Knight of all people..."

"Well," She could not have helped but laugh a little. "you two have had an amazing story together with Greninja and Luigi anyway. Seems like it's nothing but fate at this point."

"Fate meaning no matter what direction Marth decides to take, anyway. Now I gotta figure out what am I supposed to say to him. I have the rest of the afternoon, and then we leave for tribal at sunset."

_"Well, what do you know? Me literally making Marth work with me results in this... But that's alright." Sheik grinned humorously. "I'll take it. It's what I get after all. I tried turning on Shovel Knight, didn't work, now my fate lies in Marth's hands."_

As for the hero of Altea, he was conveniently left alone at the camp, lying on his back staring at the roof above him while ignoring the fire.

_"You know, whether I prefer to be in the swing vote position or not, this is quite interesting to say the least. It's the emperor deciding which of these two knights should get to boot, as if I am deciding who is more useful for the army." He compared. "...That sounds a bit depressing, though that seems to be the case out here... Now it is time for me to lay down my options."_

Shovel Knight and Luigi were wandering along the pathway over to the water well.

"What do you think I should say to Marth to increase his chances of keeping me here?"

"Hmm..." Luigi place a finger beneath his chin. "I am no expert at this, but I help you come up with something if you need it. I don't like the idea of two best friends going after each other but I guess that's how Survivor is at times."

_"A major part of what I had to do in order to save my people back in Altea is that I always had to plan ahead for anything. And if I can picture myself doing so, perhaps it could help me influence my decision making. So here are my options... Shovel Knight and Sheik. Both are the two major threats in this game for different reasons. Let us start with Shovel Knight. He has won two individual immunity challenges, has found the hidden immunity idol, and played it successfully. He is highly liked by everyone of the tribe. I've even heard of Shadow saying something positive about him once. Even though he is less likely to win the final immunity challenge than Sheik, at the same time, he has not done anything to anyone on the jury. Sometimes players win by not making anyone mad."_

_"As for Sheik, she has also won two individual immunity challenges, and... she has probably made one of the flashiest moves I've ever seen to where I... fell victim to before I was held captive by her alliance... I'm still in the Chatan Alliance and I always will be of course at this point, since I can't be in an alliance with myself at the final five... But anyway, even though I do not know if Knuckles or even Shadow would vote for her, and in spite of Shovel more likely to earn their jury votes, Sheik is sounding is the biggest physical threat to get to the end, and her strategy would actually gain respect from the jury. And sometimes, players win for their high level gameplay... So in the end, I feel that both of these... 'soldiers' are just as threatening when it comes down to it. So now that all of my thoughts are on the table, I shall hear the opinions of now only Shovel and Sheik, but their main allies, Luigi and Zelda as well."_

A couple hours later, Luigi approached Marth when it was almost set for everyone to grab their torches. Of the four Marth named, he was the last of them that spoke with him of their side of the story.

"Everything alright?"

A sigh escaped from his lips. "...Other than me being pulled from left to right and back again, I suppose things could be even worse..."

"I am sorry..."

"No, no, it is not your fault. You are not one of the two that are in question." Marth shook his head. "I am just looking at the sun predicting when we are going to be called by production to make our way to the Tribal Council..."

_"Not only do I like Shovel Knight as a person, but I do not want him to leave out of here. Not after all I've been through." Luigi spoke. "He is the most likely to take me to the end, and I have no plans on hurting my chances. And it is quite unfortunate on my end as well, since this is the one time I can pay Shovel back for all that he's done for me in this game, and I can't even do anything about it because I do not have the power like Marth has over here."_

"I mean, the only thing I can say is that Sheik is more likely to win the final immunity challenge, and that she was the main in control with Greninja in the alliance." He brought up. "In my opinion I feel is that people will respect her for staying in control. And... I hate to bring this up, but you know what happened at the-"

"final nine..." He finished for him.

"Exactly..." Curiosity then got the better of him. "What did Zelda tell you?"

"Oh, not long before you came here, Zelda did say what I thought she would say. That Shovel Knight has a strong social game, and that would be enough for him to earn the title of Sole Survivor."

"Oh..." He hung his head down a little. "I am actually not surprised."

"I wouldn't even be surprised if both of them were looking for idols as we speak..."

_"Of all the days of my Survivor experience, I suppose this is the part where I am suggested to start scrambling." The warrior himself said. "That idol saved me last time. But if I can't find another one, this could be it for me. My Survivor experience would have to come to an early end. I am interacting with Marth, of course. But I feel if that I overpressure him, then it would push him away and he would not help me at all. And I don't want to overcrowd anybody, even though we are all playing for Survivor. However, everybody wants the same prize. We all want the title of Sole Survivor, so that means that I simply have to fight just as hard as everyone else in order to secure my position. My plea to Marth was that Sheik is the most likely player to win the competition, and if both me and Marth make it to the finals, than it would be a fair shot. Yet, the only problem is that Marth knows that he's not deciding for my fate in particular. The most important thing for him, especially since he is in the swing vote position, that he needs to decide for his own fate. It's whatever his heart wants..."_

* * *

**Night 37**

* * *

Five players remaining with only two more vote outs. Final three was just around the corner for the season. As much as the people wanted to go home, it was such a shame that the season overall was ending. The thirty-nine days were simply coming and going, as for the people at home, thirty-nine days seemed like thirty-nine minutes. Yet as for the players themselves, it was as if it was thirty-nine months.

Sheik, Zelda, Luigi, Marth, and Shovel Knight all took their seats.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury..."

Their eyes all turned to their right.

"...Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy voted out at the last Tribal Council."

All five of them grinned a bit humorously and the final anthropomorphic animal that got eliminated did the same.

"...Alright..." With a sigh, the host of Survivor began the discussion. "So here we are... _ Final five_. ...Shovel Knight. Last Tribal Council, Foxy was the one on the outs. Even though he did get voted off at the end, he didn't even receive the majority of the votes... _You_ on the other hand..."

He giggled in recollection. "I was the one that was supposed to be voted off, yes. My alliance attempted to make a big move. That's what me and Luigi told Foxy to write down Marth as a way to test Sheik to make sure she wasn't strategizing behind my back to get me out."

Though Foxy shook his head, he still smirked at that.

"I felt that if Sheik was in fact still with me, I didn't want to become paranoid, vote her out for no reason and I'm the guy that ruined everything... But then again, I guess we are both the biggest threats remaining in the game. And we both know it."

"So Zelda, what was Shovel's reaction back at camp?"

"Well, it was a bit... _awkward_..." She opinionated. "I mean, I don't even blame either of them. Sheik turned on Shovel, Shovel grew suspicious and played an idol and found that her closest ally turned on her. But when he faced her, they... actually shook hands as competitors competing on Survivor. Despite it now being Sheik versus Shovel Knight, they still respected one another and decided to not have this affect their friendly relationship since they've been together for so long. I'm pretty sure Greninja over there wouldn't want them to fight."

The Pokémon smiled warmly.

"So long story short, good sportsmanship?" He questioned.

"Basically." She giggled. "May the best Survivor win... _Unfortunately_, I can't have a say in this..."

"Why not?"

"...Marth's a swing vote."

Now he was in the center of attention, even raising his hand to confirm Zelda's comment.

"Okay, so Marth's the swing vote..." He understood the situation. "Now Marth, given the events of this game, this isn't your first time being in the swing vote position. You and Zelda were both in the swing vote position before, after you both were on the bottom, and you two chose to vote out Shadow. But then you flipped, Sheik stole your vote making you jump ship, and now here you are again."

"Yes. My game has been rather... all over the place to say the least... But, I guess this time I have to make a decision all on my own." The only swordsman left sighed. "It is Zelda with Sheik, and Luigi with Shovel Knight. Marth Lowell is dead in the center and the emperor now has to dictate who gets their torch snuffed tonight."

"You don't sound too pleased about it..."

"Well, to be honest..." Poor Marth stared down at the ground quivering his head. "it is actually a situation that I didn't want to be in... at least not like this. I am the one emperor that is in a power position, and now I have to choose on which of these two will benefit me the most, and who will I need to get rid of... To decide the future for any individual in this game is rather... cruel in my opinion. I respect each and every one of these players, and it pains to end their life in this way even though that is sort of what Survivor is all about. I've had experiences such as this back in Altea that I do not wish to bring up, but when it comes to this on Survivor, of course I had to figure out what is best for me. And that is how to decide my own fate."

Roy and Shulk both looked a bit saddened by his words.

"I feel that both Shovel and Sheik are just as threatening in their own ways. Shovel Knight has proven to be the social player, while Sheik is the more strategic competitor, and both of them know it. It is a matter of what exactly is right for me, since both of them have their advantages and disadvantages."

"What's best for you." Master Hand 'nodded' understanding where he was coming from. "It's what people commonly say."

"And I understand completely on how they feel. Maybe they don't feel as bad as I am, but I know that quite a few people had to decide their own fate, while basically deciding the fate of other people. So the question to myself is how do I make my decision, and how would that play out for me in the end. Just because I helped vote Shovel out at the last Tribal Council doesn't mean that I plan on working with him for the rest of the game. And even though I've done what Sheik told me to do up to this point, I am now in a position where I could send her home... Very tough spot to be in, master."

"Zelda, like Marth, you have also been in a swing vote position." He pointed out. "But now, it seems that you're on Sheik's side, and now the person who you've worked before, is not only in a position to send Sheik home, but that could also mean that you could very well be out of the loop as far as tonight's vote is concerned. Same with Luigi if Shovel Knight was to get the boot tonight."

"That I am aware of, master. And in comparison to Sheik and Shovel, me and Marth have a close bond as well. And I think it pains Marth because if he is against Sheik, than it could very well hurt my plans, since I also have plans to get to the end." The Zelda character held her hand out to Luigi. "I'm pretty sure Luigi also desires to reach day thirty-nine."

"I do."

"But in the end, this is what we've signed up for. We all applied and we're all contestants of this season. Blindsides and betrayals are simply a part of the game. If anything, is what we ought to expect sometimes, even if we have to make decisions we have no desire to make. So whatever Marth's heart and head lead him, than it is what he should follow when he goes up to that urn tonight."

"Luigi, even though it seems that you never had to deal with being in the swing vote position, how would you feel if you were in Marth's shoes at this moment?"

"...Well, given that I never got to experience personally, I don't know exactly what it feels like." He told him. "However, say if I was in his shoes, even though I would be in a position of power, I would be a bit depressed as well. Sure, you are in a position where you get to control your own fate, however,... these are the people that have been on this island with me for so long, and I like everyone here. And that includes the people over there on the jury."

They all watched him speak.

"The harsh reality is that... I would be the reason why this certain person is not going to win the million dollars." Luigi hated to even say those words, even though he knew it was the truth. "Even if not everyone here cares about the money, being the Sole Survivor is as if it's a million dollars alone. And to end someone's dream, it... it is sort of a hard pill to swallow..."

"Sheik, you're nodding."

"What Luigi said was well put." She backed him up. "I don't know if many people even talk about the consequences of being in the swing vote position. And that also leads to basically every single vote of every single season. We're always voting off people that we might not want to leave even though we have to think for ourselves. ...However, I do agree with Luigi and Marth in the swing vote position. Emotionally, and this is coming from someone who was also never been in a swing vote situation, something tells me that it is without a doubt the worst kind of predicament one can be in. I feel bad for Marth for making this choice, but I'm one of the two that is on the hot seat tonight."

"...Alright. Healthy discussion tonight." Master Hand replied. "And Sheik, you are correct on one thing. In Survivor, when people are believed to be in a swing vote position in the tribe, they typically discuss the advantages that come with it, because you are the least likely to go home, and you are in a position of power. However, it is not that often where survivors actually discuss the disadvantages that go along with it. Emotionally like you say, you'd hate to be the bad guy and vote somebody out for your own benefit, especially if you are fond of that person. So in Marth case, he said that he is fond of everyone remaining in the game. Though at the end of the day, he will have to end somebody's life in the game. ...With that being said,... _Marth_... Are you ready to that?"

"Might as well be, master..." He nodded, ready to get the show on the road. "I am ready."

"Okay. Final five, get ready. It is time, to, _vote_. Sheik, you're up."

With a deep sigh, the ninja got up on her feet and wasted no time in getting to the urn to cast her vote, whether she liked him or not.

"Shovel Knight, thank you so much." She wanted to make herself clear. "I'm pretty sure both Greninja and Luigi would want the both of us to stay here, but it's between you and me. I'm glad at what we accomplished out here, and I am proud that the two of us have made it this far. Nothing personal against you whatsoever. Strictly strategic. Maybe by the time this game is done, I will make plans to go to your world and maybe even have a chat with your partner, Shield Knight. I can't wait to meet her."

Luigi was the one that was called up next for the vote, him writing down the ninja's name on his piece of parchment.

Shovel Knight came up next shortly afterwards, making sure he spelt his ally's name right.

"Alright, Sheik... I guess this is it. You or me. Let us put our emotions aside and we'll see how this one goes. May the best survivor win."

With Zelda writing down the name of the shovel wielder, it was now officially time for Marth to make his decision, nearly all eyes staring in his direction.

"..." Shaking his head at the thought of it all, he exhaled, his abdomen already feeling like it was receiving a direct punch.

Regardless of how he was feeling, he had to do it. And he did. He returned to his seat to receive further instructions to the master.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

Upon him going away, now it was Greninja who seemed to be depressed about the situation. Even though Sheik was his number one ally, she did not want either of them to get the boot. It actually made him rather thankful that he was not the one who got to choose who would benefit him most strategically.

Sheik managed to catch his look, who nearly laughed as a result. "It's fine, Greninja."

Master Hand came back.

"If anybody has a hidden immunity idol and you wanna play it, tonight is the last time to do so..."

"..."

"..."

Both Sheik and Shovel Knight appeared to have nothing to offer.

"...Okay. Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

Lowell had no intention on even looking.

"First vote... Sheik."

She curled her lips.

"...Shovel Knight. One vote Sheik, one vote Shovel Knight."

Him exhaling through his nose, Luigi placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort.

Greninja could have never felt more terrible.

"...Shovel Knight. Two votes Shovel Knight, one vote Sheik."

Marth was still not looking up.

"...Sheik. We're tied. Two votes Sheik, two votes Shovel Knight, one vote left..."

"Uh-oh..." Knuckles commented from his spot on the jury.

Zelda paid full attention as Master Hand picked up the final vote, Sheik considering on whether or not she should already grab her bags.

Finally, Marth chose to face his attention to the master as well.

"Sixteenth person voted out of Survivor, and the ninth member of our jury..."

"Shovel Knight."

He breathed out. "Oh well..."

"You need to bring me your torch."

"Guess it's my time to go. I had a marvelous time out here." He got up from his spot and gathered his belongings. "I wish you all good luck for the final immunity challenge."

Before he could make his way over to Master Hand, he ended up receiving a hug from Luigi, before the rest of the castaways embraced him as well one by one.

"I'm sorry..." Marth spoke to him apologetically upon having his turn.

"No, no, it's all good. It's all part of the game. It's alright."

Still, he could be seen briefly wiping a tear from his eye.

"Wait, Shovel, you forgot your torch!" Sheik noticed, grabbing his torch for him and putting it in his hand.

"Oh, thank you. I almost forgot."

That earned a few laughs from the jury, all watching him place it down.

"Say it, master."

If Master Hand had the ability to smile, he certainly would have at that point. "Shovel Knight, the tribe has spoken."

With it being snuffed, the actual knight of the game was officially eliminated.

"Time for you to go."

"Don't worry, everyone." He turned around to wave heading for the stairs. "I'll be back on the jury tomorrow night."

"Bye, Shovel Knight."

"Thanks for everything."

"See ya soon."

"You will be missed."

"Be careful not to fall down the stairs..." Sheik attempted to add a bit of humor to the situation, even if she felt bad for her ally herself.

No other words were spoken as he disappeared from their sights.

"Well, now Shovel Knight is out of the game. But the adventure isn't over yet for the four of you." Master Hand needed to prepare them for their second to last day. "You have all made it this far, but tomorrow you will have your final immunity challenge. I can not wait to find out which of the three of you will make it. You all are gonna need a good night's sleep. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight."

And with that, the final four Survivor contestants did as what they were told, and exited the tribal one after the other.

* * *

_"This has been one of the most marvelous experiences I've had in my life. I enjoyed every minute and second of it. For the most part, I've done everything I wanted, and if I could, I'd do it all over again. Now when I go home, I get to add this to one of the many adventures I've had in my life thus far. Thank you, Survivor, for this amazing opportunity."_

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Shovel Knight**

**Marth**** \- Shovel Knight**

**Luigi**** \- Sheik**

**Sheik**** \- Shovel Knight**

**Shovel Knight**** \- Sheik**

**-/-**

**3-2**

* * *

_**SURVIVOR FINALE**_

The crowd was cheering louder than ever in support of the recent boot of the season.

"Well, I guess it is safe to say that this is what happens when close allies have to go against each other." Master Hand spoke from the stage. "Shovel Knight unfortunately could not make it to the final four. He had to fall so that Sheik could live and move on to the final immunity challenge. When we come back, we're gonna get to that, and then we will have our final boot of the season, before we have our final three. Don't you go anywhere. We will be right back!"

* * *

**Honestly, I wasn't expecting this vote to be as emotional as it was. But I guess by the time I actually wrote it, I slowly began to feel sorry for everyone involved, especially everyone who was a part of Chatan Four as well as Marth. Apparently he thought it was best to vote out the more social threat versus the strategic threat. And like he said, both had their advantages and disadvantages.**

**But anyway, that was part one of the finale. I honestly never expected this chapter to be so long, but actually introducing the finale took more time than I thought it would, contributing to the fact that this is without a doubt the longest chapter of the story so far (will most likely be even longer when the second to last chapter rolls around).**

**Now it's time to introduce more castaways to you all. The Brain tribe is done, but what about the rest of the tribes you may ask? Well, you may finally have your answer, because the final two castaways that will be on Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty) are the following: Jet the Hawk from the Sonic the Hedgehog series, and Rosalina from the Super Mario series. Jet for his personality, you know what, both characters for their personality traits. Jet can be more aggressive and competitive, but Rosalina can be known for her social charm with others.**

**Questions:**

**1\. If you were Marth, who would you pick if you were at that tribal and why?**

**2\. Who is more likely to get the final boot at this point?**

**As said before, Knuckles's Ponderosa chapter is out! Check it out if you want. Watch my intro for the season on YouTube if you have not already done so, vote for your top players for the season, and I encourage everyone to review! See you all for the final boot of the season!**


	46. Chapter 46: Day 38

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 46 - Day 38

**(Sorry for being late again. Honestly, this chapter was supposed to be posted a few hours ago, but I was at a restaurant for a while with family. Though fortunately, this chapter was actually a bit easier to make, now that we only have four players left, so here it is! Next chapter should be even easier!)**

**Alright, everybody. I'm back. Time to get to the final immunity challenge for this season. Afterwards, the final boot is going to occur, and we will officially have our final three. Following Shovel Knight's elimination, we have four castaways remaining: Marth, Sheik, Zelda, and Luigi. After four knights went home all in a row, we are now down to two emperors and two knights (kinda funny after most of the emperors were at the bottom at merge lol).**

_**Historyfan15:**_** Yep. Because Marth would have easily went against the more strategic player, so Sheik did in fact get luck in a way. Hmm... A Zelda, Marth, Luigi final three? That's certainly not impossible. Ooh, you apparently have a Fanfiction account now due to me getting notifications of you favoriting and following this story! I guess I can reply to your reviews via PM now.**

**(As for everyone else that reviewed the latest chapter, I haven't forgotten about you. I'm making a note to get to you shortly.)**

**Let's get to it!**

**~KF**

* * *

_**FINALE - PART II**_

* * *

Master Hand was seen back in the arena talking to the audience once again.

"Hello, Survivor fans! Welcome back to the season finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights where Shovel Knight just got eliminated after Marth had to choose between himself and Sheik. Now, there are only _four _people left in the game: Luigi, Sheik, Marth, and Zelda."

"Nonetheless, the finale is only just beginning. We still have _one _more immunity challenge to get to. _Then_, we'll have our Final Tribal Council where they where the winner will be decided for the season, and there's still the live reunion show we need to get to, as well as discussing about our next season. Who, will, win, this, _game_? It is the season finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!"

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Night 37**

* * *

_Luigi, Zelda, Sheik, Marth_

-/-

Sixteen boots down, only one more boot to go, whether every single Survivor contestant of the season was a part of every single vote off or not. Just one more vote one of these people had to survive, and then they were set to be in the final three to win it all. The question was simple: not counting the winner, which of the other three people had to leave to enjoy all the food at Ponderosa?

Definitely not Shovel Knight since he already had the experience of being voted off.

The waves sounded from the beach as Zelda, Sheik, Marth, and Luigi all placed their torches against the same tree as usual. Yet when Luigi placed down his, he was too upset at Shovel Knight's departure to pay attention to how he placed it. Consequently, all four torches came crashing down on the ground, Sheik's torch actually hitting an unsuspecting Marth in the head.

"Ow! What the-..."

"Ah! Oops!" Luigi placed both of his hands on his face in panic. "Sorry! I-I'll get it! It won't happen again!"

"No, no, calm down, Luigi..." Marth rubbed his head nimbly getting over it, even going as far as picking up Luigi's torch himself, as well as the one that attacked him from behind. "It was an accident. Keeping the torches by the tree is Survivor tradition. They are bound to collapse once in a while."

Though Luigi knew that Marth was never really annoyed at him about it, he still sighed and took his time walking away from the rest of the characters and headed straight for the shelter.

"Alright, then. ...I'll... L-Let me get the first started... Thirty-eight days, I know how to do it by heart now..."

...

Literally all three of his competitors exchanged eye contact, Marth appearing guilty to the women.

Sheik waved it off. "He'll be fine. Judging by the events of this game, I'm pretty sure we all know how it feels to lose a close ally. Let him take his time. If he doesn't respond much, then I suggest not bothering him. It typically means that he doesn't wanna talk..."

_"I feel like a big part of this game for a lot of these people including myself have gotten quite used to losing our close relationships." Zelda thought out loud. "Marth lost Roy, Foxy lost Bonnie (as well as his entire alliance), and I lost... I might as well count on my fingers... Peach, Pac-Man, Roy as well,... alright. Only three. I was going to count Ghirahim, but he clearly didn't care for me, and I... hate to sound arrogant, but I sort of never cared for him. But anyway, I suppose it's Luigi's turn. ...How saddening, though. Who would want something bad to happen to Luigi? He's down to earth, he's open enough to share his flaws with the rest of us, and he's not afraid to try new things to try and make a name for himself... Going against Shovel Knight means that we've gone against Luigi... If that is enough to make his followers pave the rest of us as villains,... I actually would not blame them. Luigi is such a kind soul..."_

Upon getting the fire ready for the night, with the plumber having quite a bit of trust to everyone else to tend to the fire, he headed right off to bed.

_"Of course I am sad that Shovel Knight is gone. I was the only one left out of the vote, and now he is not here anymore. Like I said before, at times he did very well remind me of Mario. Those two are very alike in their personalities, so I did see him in that light. And now that he has been eliminated, it's like if both me and my brother were on the same season and he was just voted out... Or even worse..."_

Not only was he completely facing away from anyone (though with no intended disrespect), he even had his cap over his eyes. He really wished to fall asleep as soon as possible and move on. One more challenge to get to and it will be done and over with, until he had to go to the next Tribal Council.

_"What I mean by my worse case scenario is..." He sighed and hung his head down for a bit. "Give me a minute... Okay... I'm scared of losing my brother... Alright? ...That reward challenge which was the family visit really meant a lot to me, and I know it meant a lot to him too. We always have times like that, you know? ...But naturally since I'm younger than he is, I know most likely he is going to... pass away first. And I'm not gonna lie: I am completely **terrified** at that. Yes, I know we are all going to pass away someday, but after all that Mario has done for me, since he also heads on a few adventures alone, not only I am petrified that something might happen and I might not be there, but it is the thought of losing him in general... I can't even begin to imagine what I would do without him. Yet at the same time, I kind of have to... I am probably going a little be too dark about this, but it's my truth... Mario gone would completely **destroy **me... Alright, I have to go... before I get too emotional out here again..."_

While he was getting ready to fall asleep, with Marth staring at the fire alone, that left Zelda and Sheik alone for at least a few minutes.

"Well..." Zelda smiled.

"We did it!" Sheik grinned back with arms out, quickly embracing Zelda. "Well... Marth did it, actually. I'm still here and you're still here. Just one more challenge and one more Tribal Council to go to... If I actually get there."

"Understandable." Zelda nodded. "You're still being seen as a threat. ...In honestly, if Marth doesn't target you at this point, I'd be quite surprised."

"I agree." She bobbed up and down as well. "I absolutely agree..."

_"The good news is that Shovel Knight is no longer here on the island." Sheik stated. "However, the bad news is that it doesn't really change anything for me because I am still a target anyway. And now, I am actually a bit target now, more than ever. They probably do think I have a legitimate shot at the title of Sole Survivor. Maybe even Zelda... Or maybe not... I don't know about her at the moment. She's acting like she is still with me (which I do appreciate her loyalty by the way), but... before I came into Zelda's life in the game, even before the swap, she had Marth... It's like she has to choose on who she thinks should be her best friend because to some people, you can't have two best friends. Luigi, I'm not even so sure about either. Even though he clearly is gonna get more motivated to help vote me out, he knows that me and Shovel Knight helped each other, as well as the three of us plus Greninja starting on the same tribe. Thus, if me and him are planning on taking each other to the end, and if Zelda somehow chooses to stay with me, we have no reason to keep Marth anymore... So clearly it's gonna be between me and him. Looks like I have to fight again..."_

* * *

**Day 38**

* * *

Final immunity challenge time.

For the final challenge of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, there was nothing but a giant maze that faced the remaining contestants. Yet it was simply all that was needed for a final immunity challenge.

"...Okay, we're gonna be blindfold are we?" Sheik guessed.

"You're right." Master Hand suddenly commented before he even actually greeted the players.

The other three survivors laughed.

"...Oh, okay then!" Sheik grinned. "Thanks for letting me know."

"So... You guys ready for it? This _is _your final immunity challenge. Zelda, let's get this out of the way. I'll take back the necklace once again."

The Hyrulian complied with a nod and calmly made her way over, even going as far as unhooking the necklace herself and giving it to the master.

"Thank you..." Back on the post it went. "For the _final_ time this season, immunity is back up for grabs. For today's challenge, as Sheik guessed, all of you _are _gonna be blindfolded. You are gonna be blindfolded as you will go through a large maze. There will be posts scattered around that can be used to guide throughout as you all will head to four stations grabbing one medallion each. First person that reaches the finish and actually _grabs_ the individual immunity necklace wins immunity, guaranteed a spot at the Final Tribal Council where you will get a chance to plead your case to the jury on why you are worthy of winning the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar check that goes along with it. ...Shall we get to it?"

"I am."

"I'm ready."

"Let us begin."

"Let's-a go..."

-/-

"Alright, this is it!" Master Hand raised a finger in the air, even floating above the center of the maze. "Here we go! For immunity, and a guaranteed spot at the Final Tribal Council. Survivors ready?"

They all each had one hand holding onto a piece of rope at the start of the maze, the four of them being blindfolded by their own black buffs.

"..._**GO!**_"

Even though when it came to giving them the okay to start with the shouting of his voice, for obvious reasons, no one chose to run. Every last one of them had their arms extended while either wandering all over, or walking in a straight line, only to bump into something within seconds.

Unfortunately, Luigi happened to be the first victim of the latter.

"Ow! Hey!"

"Use the rope to guide you along until you get to your first post." Master Hand suggested.

He still never knew exactly what he meant at the time until he actually felt a post himself.

"Uh..."

Feeling around, he eventually came to a point where he fingers fumbled on what he assumed was some sort of arrow.

"Hmm..."

Finally getting the picture, he wandered straight ahead, Marth and Sheik doing the same. Zelda on the other hand used the same strategy, though she ended up in a different direction somehow.

"...I... _think_ this is it..."

The final male of the original Knights tribe was the first to feel out a box-like station. With arms still extended, he touched nothing but air until he found his hands on a red medallion.

"Luigi has his first medallion! ...Sheik has her first medallion! Marth has his!"

The only one that had yet to score any points at the time giggled to herself. "What about Zelda?"

"For the most part we're off to a good start so far!"

Luigi, Sheik, and Marth slowly began to separate upon reaching their second post. Sheik took off in one direction, while the other two headed off in another.

"Zelda has her first medallion!"

Upon retrieving hers, the brunette actually began to wander toward the station her competitors were.

Wanting to get to his second station as soon as possible, Marth chose to use the rope as his strategy, speeding ahead of Luigi by just a little bit. However, he accidentally made a wrong turn, even actually making his way over to another post.

"...Huh?" He felt around. "This one is different... Ugh... I'll get back to the other one later..."

"Luigi seems to be at his second station. After thirty-eight days, it is _Luigi _that is leading a challenge. Would he actually win his first immunity this season?"

The answer had to be put on hold not just for obvious reasons, but because of the fact that Marth also approached a second station, whether it was the one he intended to visit or not. And at that point, all four players were at four different stations. That being said, there was quite some time backtracking that needed to be done.

"Sheik at her second station! Zelda still _looking _for her second station! Both Luigi and Marth have their second medallions, now! Zelda and Sheik trying to stay in it!"

"Aw, come on, Sheik..." She honestly was a bit disappointed in herself. "You're a ninja... You know better than this..."

The plumber was now at the same post as Marth was before as Zelda finally approached her second station, the one that was abandoned by everyone else upon their time of arrival, putting everyone tied in first, yet not quite based on the fact that there were people that grabbed their second medallion some time before.

"Luigi and Marth are both on their way to their third station! Sheik and Zelda on their way to her next post!"

From that point on, the remaining survivors got the hang of how the challenge worked: walk around aimlessly, find a guide post, walk in a straight line (even using the rope as guidance), find a station, touch around, grab a medallion, rise and repeat three more times, and poof. Immunity!

...Then again, if it was not a race, and if there were not one, not two, not three, but _four _immunity necklaces, then no one would have to be voted off. Regardless, there would have been no point of the game in general if everyone always had immunity. Things just had to go the hard way for the players.

"Come on... Come on... Ooh, here it is..." Marth immediately grabbed the medallion as soon as he felt a string, hanging the orange medallion around his neck as he speed-walked out of his third station, Luigi at another end of a challenge grabbing his own black one.

"Luigi and Marth are on their way to their final station..."

"Okay, it is this way..." Zelda said with a sigh. "I should just follow the rope at this point..."

Grabbing the orange necklace, Luigi was on his way out of the final station, Marth picking up his black medallion just a few seconds later.

"Luigi and Marth have all four medallions! They're getting ready to go to their final post and retrieve the immunity necklace!"

"Crap..." Sheik mumbled. Though at that time, she was on her way to her own final station. She only needed the color yellow. The four medallions did in fact represented all four tribes through the season, including the color of the post-merge tribe and the Motobu buff.

Now the emperor and the knight that were leading everyone else approached a more narrow section of the challenge after feeling out their last guide post, realizing that they were both near each other. Thus, they both began to use the rope on opposite sides to guide them along as they picked up some speed.

"It is gonna be close..."

Eventually, Marth's hands ended up on the post first. Thinking quickly, he almost instantly extended his arms, both actually reaching through the immunity necklace.

Nevertheless, it still counted.

"_**MARTH WINS FINAL IMMUNITY! GUARANTEED SPOT AT THE FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL!**_"

Sighing with great annoyance, Sheik immediately removed her buff from her eyes and shook her head greatly with disappointment. Not at Marth personally, though more at herself.

Zelda calmly took off her blindfold as well to see Marth actually hooking the immunity necklace on.

Lowell himself could not have been more elated, even shedding a few tears of joy in celebration. "That was for Altea. All of it... Oh..."

It just occurred to him that he barely beat Luigi at the necklace. "Good job, Marth. You deserve it."

He grinned back. "Thank you, Luigi. It seems that we were both leading the challenge the whole time. ...How far were you from me?"

"...Inches?"

"Darn..." He turned his head away for a bit. "...That makes me feel guilty... You have never won immunity out here, or even any challenge in particular..."

"Psh…" The green-capped Mario brother waved it off. "Don't worry about it. Immunity is nice to have, and I'd like to have it just as much as the next person, but whoever won the necklace deserves to win the necklace."

"Thank you."

"Alright, Marth." Master Hand floated towards him. "I don't even need to put the necklace on you since you've already done so yourself. No matter who hangs it around you at the challenge though, you know you've won and earned that immunity. You are not only safe tonight at Tribal Council, you have officially taken up one of the spots in the final three. ...And now you're crying a little..."

"I'm sorry..." He talked, nimbly wiping those tears away forcing himself to cry no more. "I am alright... It is just... It is just that my game has been a wild ride for a while, now. Due to me eliminating Shovel Knight at the previous Tribal Council, I do not know if I'm even needed any more when it comes to the tribe, so I really was not aware if they still desired to keep me here or not. ...Yet all thanks to this necklace right here, now I am relieved."

In spite of unintentionally putting the rest of the players on the spot, they all still congratulated him on his win.

"Marth, you are not going anywhere. And I know that you know that. As for everyone else, even though you have made it _thirty-eight _days into this game, you still know what's to come next. For one of the three of you: Zelda, Luigi, Sheik, somebody's Survivor adventure will be cut short by just one day. I'll give you guys the afternoon to think about who the final boot of the season is gonna be, and I will see you all tonight at Tribal Council."

_"My chances of being eliminated tonight were already high enough. But now, guess what happens: Marth wins immunity. The one person that had the biggest chance of leaving tonight beside me is not safe. So now I have to work even harder to stay alive. No one wants to be eliminated on the second to last day on Survivor..." Sheik sighed out of being overwhelmed by the situation. "I can't believe I have to target either Luigi or Zelda now..."_

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Day 38**

* * *

"Nicely done, Marth."

"I thank you."

"Even though I didn't win, that maze challenge was a little fun."

_"I am very thankful that I've won the challenge today." Marth leaned back against a rock ignoring the waves. "Not something I expected, but I did indeed hope that I would win today. Being in the final three of the game against all odds, even the fact that I have outlasted sixteen, soon to be **seventeen** people in a game like this is overwhelming to say the least."_

Instead of separating into different directions, for the first half hour, the group of four simply sat around the fire. Though silent at first, it eventually evolved into casual conversation.

"I can't believe of how many bugs that are here..." Luigi commented. "How many of them have you guys seen today? I feel like every time I turn around, there is a bug right near me that I know I don't like."

"Well, I know arachnophobia is quite common among everyone. But for me personally, I've gotten use to it at this point." Sheik admitted. "Sometimes though, when I spot one, I feel like sometimes the moment I stare at them, they freeze in place not knowing what to do."

_"Though the number one reason why I feel like I desperately needed it for tonight is that I feel that if I did not win, there was a chance that today would have been my very last day on Kodai Island. Since both Foxy and Shovel Knight are gone, it is now me, Luigi, Sheik, and Zelda. Of course Luigi and Sheik to this day have been close allies. Zelda and Sheik have been in the same alliance for a while now, and then there's me... I strongly believed that those three felt that I was not needed any longer, and Sheik probably would have convinced Zelda to turn and flip on me. So now that I have won immunity, the biggest threat remaining probably for all three of us is Sheik. She even knows that if she gets to the end, there is a high possibility of her winning this game."_

Almost a minute after he finished that confessional, Zelda came by to check on him.

"Hello..."

"Hello, Marth..." She greeted him back and sat next to him in the sand. "...Well, this is it, isn't it? You're in the final three."

"I suppose I am." He replied. "...Though, since I've won the necklace and I am already guaranteed a spot, I think it is in my best interest that you have a spot as well. I see no reason to vote for you."

She smiled at that. "Thank you, Marth. I... want to believe you. I really do."

"I do not blame you."

"If this was outside of Survivor, I would most likely believed you. But since this is Survivor, it is not as if everyone's word is their truth. However, if I am not the one being voted out of the game after all after the master reads the votes, I shall thank you again."

"Well,... to be honest, Zelda, I would feel rather... _happy_ inside if you are there with me in the final three." He smiled warmly. "I mean... On both of our ends,... we have been through a lot together. Wouldn't you say? Since there are not one, but three spots at the end, what is the point of just myself being in the final three if there is no one to share it with?"

"Yes. That I can agree on."

"...However," Marth just had to come out of nowhere and bring Zelda news that she not only might be already aware of, but also something that she might not have wanted to hear. However, perhaps it was something that she had to be reminded of. "I am going to warn you about this..."

"...I'm listening..." She immediately began to frown looking away.

"...You know I'm writing Sheik... right?"

The brunette sighed. "Yes... I've already thought about this before we even came back from Tribal Council last night..."

"Oh, alright... I mean, I would say that the vote is going to be between me and her,... but I am afraid that since I have the necklace for the night, and you might be a threat that others would have to eliminate,... you might need to write down Sheik..."

"..." Zelda simply exhaled once again. "If... If I have to, than I will not my emotions get the best of me..."

_"It is an absolute pain that I most likely have to vote Sheik out, even though she helped me all this time... But Marth is right. Not only Sheik is a threat to win, but now, Marth won immunity. Luigi actually being eliminated from the game... could **somehow** be possible, though **highly** unlikely. Me on the other hand, I am pretty sure I am being labeled as an underdog by the jury at this moment, which is not that surprising, considering the events of my game. Though if I'm the threat that Sheik needs to get rid of just so she can sit herself next to Marth and Luigi at the final three, than of course my only option is to do the same... And she knows it."_

Speaking of the ninja, she of course had a million thoughts flowing through her mind as she stayed with Luigi at the shelter.

_"It honestly breaks my heart that my option is to vote Zelda out." She stated. "On paper it sounds like there was no point of protecting her in the first place if I'm just gonna vote her out right before day thirty-nine. Though, my worst case scenario occurred: Marth won the challenge. If I have any shot at making to the end even with these circumstances, voting out Zelda is pretty much my only choice... And she knows it."_

And so, since Luigi was already at the shelter, Sheik took the perfect opportunity to strategize with him.

"...What are your thoughts if Marth was actually on the jury?" She asked him.

"Well,... I guess even thought it would have been a bummer since I did grow to like him, it would have not been a bad move." He opinionated. "Since this is the last boot off of the season, we kinda didn't need him anymore... But he went from that to being the only person that is guaranteed a spot at the Final Tribal Council..."

"I know." She nodded in reply. "I wash honestly expecting somewhat of a different answer, but that's true also."

Luigi looked up. "What do you mean?"

"Well, we can't vote out Marth because he has immunity, even though it is not necessary to keep him with us at this point since there are going to be no vote offs after this. However, what do Marth and Zelda have in common? What's the first thing that pops into your head?"

"...They're both emperors?"

"Exactly." That was the response she hoped to hear. "The emperors were almost nothing at merge, and look at them now? Four knights have been sent home one by one. If another knight goes home, there would be more emperors than knights on the jury. But in order to prevent that,... what is our only option?"

"...Vote out Zelda?"

"Right again."

_"Sheik's saying that I should help vote out Zelda so that there would be more knights at the end of the game, since an emperor hasn't left the game since the Freddy vote, and now is our final opportunity to send one more emperor home because Marth won immunity." Luigi relayed to the audience. "...Now, that does sound good on paper, but when you look at it, it's almost certain that Sheik is only saying this so that she stays. ...And I'll be honest. It does feel weird to target your own allies, but then again, Sheik went after Shovel Knight last Tribal Council. So at this stage in the game, I think that I'm less hesitant to help vote her out, just because of me personally thinking that she is the biggest threat to win."_

Now she is in talks with Zelda herself.

"...So _now _what do we do?"

"...Well,..." She sighed. "I guess literally our only option is to vote for Luigi, just so that the two of us can be in the final three together with Marth, even though Luigi doesn't appear to be as much of a threat."

"Good point..." Her new friend placed a finger beneath her chin, before suddenly snapping her fingers. "But you know what, remember Knuckles? On how he was never a threat to actually win, but more of a threat to get to the end due to challenge strength?"

"That's pretty much why we voted him out." Zelda remembered. "Yes."

"Well, to be honest, I really have no idea how much of a shot Luigi has when it comes to winning Survivor... no idea at all." Sheik had to admit. "There might be all types of jurors here. I doubt they would be bitter,... but say if they are? And besides, out of all of us, Luigi has the highest chances of getting to the end anyway. He probably didn't even _need_ to win the immunity. He could have even sat out the final immunity challenge and it wouldn't even matter."

_"Luigi... I really don't know how the jury is going to react to him at all..." She facepalmed herself. "It bothers me enough that I might have to vote for him of all people. When Marth won today, I was already preparing myself to vote for Zelda the moment we all walked out of that challenge. But lately, I'm feeling like that I might have to vote for Luigi if Luigi is not buying what I'm saying about Zelda. I mean, he's not stupid. He probably sees right through my plan. So if Plan A doesn't work, Plan B would be to actually vote him out. Not only that he's the biggest threat to get to the end, he is probably... **somehow** a threat in general. Think about it. How would the jury react? Now, we all really got to know each other a lot out here, so I kind of already have a hint of how they are going to react to my game if I get to the end. But, Luigi? Out of everyone here, he's the most unpredictable. No offense to Luigi, but I really don't know what was his overall plan or strategy out here. Like Shovel Knight, he's not really that much of a strategic player. Yet also like Shovel Knight, he's the only one that has not made anyone mad on the jury. It wouldn't be surprising if Shadow and Knuckles were and still are mad at Zelda and possibly Marth. Knuckles still might have a couple bitter feelings towards me. But Luigi? ...What does anyone have against him of all people?"_

For the second to last time, the group of players all picked up their torches and began to make their way to tribal.

_"Not saying that the jury for this season is going to be a bitter jury, especially given the fact that it's been so many seasons of the show, people are starting to think it would be foolish if someone is bitter for no reason. **However**, you have to plan ahead every five seconds when it comes to the game, which includes always expecting the unexpected. Therefore, if it is somehow going to be a bitter jury, then Luigi would be the most likely person to receive jury votes. He already has his story revolving around him being an underdog in life compared to his brother. But the bottom line is that,... if **anyone** leaves tribal besides me, then that's it. One of my worst fears when it comes to this game is to go all the way out here the whole way, only to be voted out one day before Tribal Council. So here goes nothing..."_

* * *

**Tribal Council**

**Night 38**

* * *

Sixteen boots, one more boot left to go. Though last, it was certainly not least in any way, shape, or form.

Zelda, Sheik, Marth, and Luigi all entered the Tribal Council area, setting their torches down before sitting down in the four seats, the men sitting the back while the women took the front two seats.

"We'll now bring in the members of our jury..." Master Hand stared to his left. "...Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, Foxy,... and Shovel Knight voted out at the last Tribal Council."

Still happy as ever, the shovel wielder eyed the remaining players one by one, everyone smiling at him in exchange.

"..._So_..." The hand was ready to begin. "First things first, before we really start to discuss about who's going to be final member of our jury for Survivor - Emperors vs Knghts, what I would like to say is that we have quite an interesting situation here. When we started this game back on day one, we had ten emperors, ten knights. And now, here on day thirty-eight, the numbers somehow managed to be even as we speak: two emperors, two knights. Just something that I'd like to point out."

Sheik smirked. "Interesting. Isn't it?"

"Yes." The hand laughed. "I'm not entirely sure if this was the overall plan for some of you guys, but nonetheless, you guys lost two immunity challenges each pre-swap, causing the numbers to be even prior to it, which doesn't exactly happen on every season of Survivor of course. Then when we all merged, we had seven knights against six emperors, putting the emperors at a disadvantage right out of the gate."

Marth nodded remembered that situation all too well. Being on the bottom was typically not entertaining, especially given the fact that it was never asked for by any of the contestants that were in Marth and Zelda's shoes.

"Three emperors in a row were eliminated one by one even though it appeared to be that they were in different alliances."

Shadow blinked and Freddy simply sat still.

"However, one tribal after another, people from the original Chatan tribe began to get their torches snuffed one after the other, and here we are now. Kind of a neat highlight to this season."

"I agree." Marth understood where he was coming from. "It was definitely something, especially how things turned out to be post-merge. The _knights_ were the ones controlling the _emperors_."

"Zelda, you agree with that?"

"I do. I really do." She nodded. "Whether you are an emperor or a knight, there are some of us who lived up to our names quite well. ...Me in particular though, I feel as if I am one of those people this season that got to experience on what it is like on the other side. For example: I was labeled to be an emperor at the start of the season. And yet, I feel that I got to experience what it is like being a knight, or an underdog even. I feel that I have been for a few Tribal Councils. But,... shockingly, I've made it this far to day thirty-eight."

"Welcome to the underdog club." Luigi commented with a smirk, placing a hand on the Hyrulian's shoulder. "Don't worry. I know what it's like."

"Sheik, on the other hand, based on what has happened on this season, do you consider yourself to be an emperor in some way?" Master Hand questioned out of curiosity.

"Hmm. Good question, master." She said. "...But I feel like I was a little bit of both: an emperor _and _a knight. Sure, I was _clearly_ a knight back at the final ten where I was on the bottom before I came back in the majority. But ever since then, me and my alliance made sure that we stayed in the majority. So... kind of a topdog as well. ...Shovel Knight over there got to experience, and Luigi got to experience it as well."

"Well,... you're probably right about that." He chuckled a little bit, Shovel Knight shaking his head with a big grin wanting to do the same. "It was definitely something that I was not used to. That's Mario's job. However, if I think if I was ever going to get an opportunity to be Mario for a day, then if it is like this, now I'm starting to have some kind of feel of what he goes through... So... I guess I can thank you master for that."

He laughed. "No problem, Luigi. So anyway, now let's get onto it. Day thirty-eight, four of you left, Marth barely manages to beat Luigi at immunity,-"

Shovel Knight widened his eyes in shock.

"Marth, how does it feel? You are literally on your way to day thirty-nine." And he was not at all exaggerating. "I would even tell you that you could just leave the Tribal Council area right now and head back to camp for a good night's sleep so you can starting working on your Final Tribal Council speech, but then again, you are set to vote tonight."

He chuckled in response. "That's one way to look at it, master."

"And there have been multiple ways of how people usually vote for the final members of the jury. What would you base your vote on?"

"Well, for me personally, I think it is within my best interest to simply help eliminate the biggest threat remaining in this game."

"Me."

"..._You_, Sheik?"

"_Well_," She heaved a heavy sigh. "I think voting for Shovel Knight last tribal was the final nail in my coffin. I've won a couple challenges, I've made a couple strategic moves here and there, and now I'm being perceived as the biggest threat when it comes to the other players. It is honestly fine if people think that way, since that's how this game is supposed to be played, but... quite a big 'uh-oh' for me."

"And what would base _your_ vote on, since you are apparently considered to be a big threat to win?"

"I guess to answer that, I could basically say the same thing Marth is saying: by getting rid of who's the most threatening." She explained. "However, sometimes it is not that black and white. A threat can literally mean anybody or anything, depending on certain aspects of how one plays the game. Some people rely on their social skills to make it through, some play this game more aggressively and strategically, and some fly under the radar to avoid being targeted. All types of threats out there, you know? Long story short though, I guess anybody's vote can very much be for anybody. We're pretty much all threats."

"...Was there at least any talk of a fire making challenge?"

"...Actually,..." She even took the time to think about it. "no... I mean, if I don't get my way tonight, I'm either sitting next to Shovel on the jury, or I'm making a fire tonight. I don't remember being told by anyone that there was a possibility that I could be making a fire, but if it's what I need to do to save my live, I'm willing to do whatever it takes. I've been a knight before, so I can be a knight again."

"Luigi, have you been told that you could be making a fire tonight?"

"Not that I know of..." He placed a thumb beneath his chin. "All I've been told is that who could I vote for tonight just to make sure that I'm here tomorrow night. It would be a dream come true of course, but fire? ...If my name comes up twice and it is a tie against somebody else, then I would say I would be completely caught off guard."

"You're saying that you'd be quite surprised if your name comes up tonight?"

"Absolutely, master, because it would be something that I never would have expected. That's why even though this is the final four, final elimination Tribal Councils could sometimes be the scariest."

"Let me ask Zelda, now." He faced the brunette. "Zelda, since you are the only other person vulnerable for the votes, have _you_ caught word by anyone that you could be making a fire."

"I don't remember catching word of it all." She shook her head with honesty. "Like Luigi, I would be surprised as well if I had to make a fire in order to survive until the very last day of this adventure. I don't even know how it would work out for me. I've made fire before a couple times at the camp, yet I doubt I am the most talented when it comes to it. I think pretty much any of these people could beat me in a fire challenge. Nonetheless though, if it's the one thing that I need to do so I can reach the end of the game, then I will give the fire making challenge a hundred and ten percent."

"Alright, then. Now _Marth_," The host of Survivor finally got to the blue-haired man. "even though you won your second necklace today, there is still a possibility that the vote could not go your way. It could be a unanimous vote for example if that's what you are planning on tonight, though it could be a 2-2 vote, and now somebody has to make fire, which as a result, can go against your plan."

"That is true, master. Just because it is the final four does not always mean that things are completely easier. It is still possible to get blindsided this late in the game, and you already told us that we are... quite talented at does." He had never forgotten about that. "So if a plan goes through and I am not on the loop on that, it could mean trouble for my game. Since the person that I intend on voting for could be very well sitting at the final three, with the person I wanted to stay being out and going to the jury... So it is quite a scary situation."

...

"Well, no matter how the vote turns out for anybody tonight, I know that one of you _will_ be the final member of the jury, and the other three of you will never have to worry about being eliminated in this season again. Let's this show on the road." He concluded the Tribal Council discussion. "It is time to vote. Luigi, you're up."

With a big sigh, the plumber got up from his spot and calmly made his way over to the urn.

Following the knight, was the emperor, Marth Lowell, taking his time in heading to the voting booth for his vote to be cast.

"This is the plan that I personally believe will go through... And if things somehow doesn't, then... Well, this wouldn't be the first time I've been told one thing with something else occurring last minute..."

Sheik was the next up.

"Anybody but me. That's all I got to say."

Once Zelda cast her vote, she sat back down, Master Hand then being ready to count the four votes.

"I'll go tally the votes..."

...

With nobody having much to say, they all simply awaited for their master to return.

"Once the votes are read, the decision is final. Person voted out will be asked to leave the Tribal Council area immediately. I'll read the votes..."

He uncapped the urn.

...

"First vote... Sheik."

She nodded as if it was what she expected.

Marth took a glance in her direction, only to shift his eyes back at the master.

Luigi adjusted his cap.

"...Zelda."

Sigh.

"One vote Zelda, one vote Sheik."

Marth lifted an eyebrow in reaction as the jury remained watching in anticipation.

"...Sheik. Two votes Sheik, one vote Zelda, one vote left..."

Luigi had his hands clamped together in his lap, folding his lips back by just a bit, Marth's eyebrow readjusting afterwards.

Impa's student on the other hand already had a hand on her bag.

"...Seventeenth person voted out and the tenth and final member of our jury. Sheik. You need to bring me your torch."

Exhaling once more, she calmly stood up. "I suppose this is my fate... Good luck to you all."

Receiving a hug from Luigi and especially Zelda, she took her time retrieving her torch from behind.

"I can't believe it..."

"What?" Freddy asked Knuckles who was near him on the jury bench.

"Luigi of all people outlasted all the other knights in the game."

"Oh..."

Luigi himself faced the jury bench, though mainly at Shovel Knight in particular, who was raising his fist in the air to represent his support.

"Sheik, the tribe has spoken."

_Snuff_.

"Ouch..."

"Time for you to go."

With a hand in the air, she was off. "Good luck, you guys. See ya tomorrow!"

"Bye, Sheik."

"We'll see you again."

"Good luck."

And with her being out of sight, all eyes were now facing the official final three of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights.

"Well,... you guys have done it. You three have gone as far as you can possibly go in this game." Master Hand congratulated the three. "You outlasted all the others, and here you are. The three of you are going to see day thirty-nine. You have one more day to go on Kodai Island, and then we will have our Final Tribal Council. Hopefully you all will get a good night's sleep. You're gonna need it. Grab your torches, head back to camp. Goodnight..."

* * *

_"Aw, darn... I **really** didn't want to be voted out tonight. Being voted out just one day of making your dreams come true is something that doesn't exactly sit right with me. However, I had a great time out there. I've made real relationships with others, won challenges, helped others if they needed everything, and I've made for thirty-eight days. If I am not winning, I guess this is more than enough of what I can get out of Survivor. I loved each and every second of it. So now, I get to have a say of who we're giving a million dollars to. And honestly, that's exciting all by itself!"_

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Zelda**** \- Sheik**

**Marth**** \- Sheik**

**Luigi \- Sheik**

**Sheik \- Zelda**

_**4th Place:**_** Sheik**

**-/-**

**3-1**

* * *

_**SURVIVOR FINALE**_

Once again, there was Master Hand on the main stage, the audience clapping for Sheik out of respect.

"Well, after being known for that move she made at the final nine against Marth, Sheik, who is considered to be one of the main strategic players of the season is the final boot of the season. But the fun doesn't stop there: we now officially have our _final, **three**_. Zelda, Luigi, and Marth. They will all have their shot at the Final Tribal Council where they will face the jury and explain to them why they think they are the most worthy of earning the title of Sole Survivor and the million dollar check that goes along with it. So stay tuned! You do not wanna miss it!"

* * *

**...Well, it's official. The final three of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights is going to be Zelda, Marth, and Luigi. Two emperors, one knight. And guess what? In the end, in spite of the circumstances, the emperors _still_ managed to outnumber the knights. Though I guess that's only a minor thing here. **

**Now it's time for the final two castaways to be revealed for next season... Wait a minute, I forgot to say that Jet and Rosalina were the final two characters to be revealed, didn't I? lol. (Here's the full cast: Brain Tribe - Funky Kong, Espio, Isabelle, Plague Knight, Golden Freddy "Golden", Jimmy Hopkins / Brawn Tribe - Incineroar, Katt, Jet, Ryu, Tifa, Specter Knight / Beauty Tribe - Rosalina, Daisy, Bandanna Dee, Panther, King Knight, Chica)**

**Anyways, I guess I'll use this time to make some announcements for this one. The first thing is that since this story has surpassed the number of reviews Kodai Island had, not only this is my most reviewed Survivor story, not only this is literally the most reviewed story in the "Game X-Over x Super Smash Brothers" Crossover section, this is now my most reviewed Fanfiction ever. Thank you to every last one of you who reviewed! Even though I have been on this site for nine years, reviews are always appreciated!**

**Questions:**

**1\. What do you think of Sheik's elimination?**

**2\. What do you think would have happened if Zelda or Luigi was actually eliminated instead?**

**3\. Now that the full cast has been revealed for season three, what are your thoughts on these eighteen players?**

**4\. What are your thoughts on this season's final three?**

**You know, the usual. Vote for your favorites on my poll, watch my YouTube intro if you haven't already and I'll see ya next chapter where we will get started with the Final Tribal Council for Survivor - Emperors vs Knights! (More Ponderosa chapters will be up shortly, so if you haven't already, go check the first seven chapters out!)**


	47. Chapter 47: Day 39 Part 1

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 47 - Day 39 Part 1

**Alright, so here it is, folks. We are now officially on the final day of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. This fic is ending already even though I feel like September was yesterday lol.**

**Now as far as the third season is concerned, I have finally decided when to the start the new era for Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty). For the "Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty) - Meet the Cast" fic (a pre-season fic for the main story), the release date for the first chapter will be April 29th of this year. I'd like to take a bit of time away for the series just for a bit, but not only to start making preparations for the next season, I am planning on posting at least a couple more chapters for my other stories. For the official date for the main story "Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)", the release date will be May the 20th. And yes, this Survivor story, as well as every future Survivor story that I make will be in the "Game Xover x Super Smash Brothers" section. If you have trouble looking on it, you can just click on my name lol.**

**Now like last time, since the release dates seem to be so far away from now, if you want, I can PM you if you'd like as a reminder of the releases. But I don't want the guest reviewers to feel left out if they think that they might forget, so for any guest reviewers that are following this series, my suggestion to you is to mark the dates on your phones or something lol.**

**With all that out of the way, I guess we can finally get back to talking about this current season. We officially have our final three: Luigi, Zelda, and Marth. Three different stories here in regards to gameplay and character. Let's see how this Final Tribal Council is gonna play out. But first, day thirty-nine still means that they are going to be on Kodai Island in Okinawa, Japan for one last time. No challenges and no strategizing to vote people off. Just the characters reminiscing the events of the season, with their characters being explored as the state their final confessionals of the whole season, as well as their final thoughts before heading to the Final Tribal Council. Afterwards, the jury will have their say, the winner will be revealed next chapter, and in the following chapter, live reunion show.**

_**Derick Lindsey: **_**Yeah I do like this final three. Their stories are even more different from one another's from the last season! Luigi overcoming his personal obstacles, Zelda being an underdog that was always spared at every tribal where her name was written down, and Marth's game being completely all over the place lol.**

**Shall we get started?**

**~KF (Can't believe I had to edit my initials in last chapter since I forgot to add them in last chapter lol)**

* * *

_**FINALE PART III**_

* * *

Back from yet another commercial break, the Survivor finale was back on, with Master Hand standing in the center of the stage as usual.

However, when the camera made its way to the audience that was cheering on, there were quite a few familiar faces that were made out to the public in support of the ones that competed on the season, from including former contestants, Mario, Sonic, Fox, and Link from Survivor - Kodai Island, to participants from the Loved Ones visit at the final eight including Shield Knight, Clyde, Impa, and Val.

Speaking of loved ones, there were even more loved ones for support in the final five in particular, since they were the ones that were lucky enough that the castaway they were rooting for managed to make it all the way to the final episode of the season.

"Welcome back to Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, as Sheik just been eliminated and is now the final member of our jury. Thus, we now officially have our final three of the season: Luigi, Marth, and Zelda. We are going to get through day thirty-nine, and afterwards, we are going to have our jury come up on this stage with the final three, and then we will reveal our winner. Once that is done, we are going to have a live reunion show. Don't go anywhere! The season finale continues!"

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Night 38**

* * *

_Marth, Luigi, Zelda_

-/-

For once, when the castaways returned from the Tribal Council, there was never anyone feeling too emotional about their decision, nor was there any feeling of regret. Everyone casted their vote on the exact same person, and there was no more strategizing for future eliminations from that point simple because of the fact that there were no more eliminations that were set to take place.

There they all stood at the shelter: Marth, Zelda, and Luigi. In spite of their different strategies to the game, the overall mission was complete: last all thirty-nine days out on a season of Survivor.

"Well,..." Luigi grinned, being at his absolute happiest since the day the game began. "we did it! We... We really did it!"

"Indeed." Marth smiled and nodded. "Final three, here we are."

"At long last." Zelda heaved a sigh of relief. "We have all come a long way."

"I could not agree more." Lowell replied. "I would recommend that we celebrate our victory, but on the other hand, I do feel as we all need our sleep for tomorrow, especially for tomorrow night's Final Tribal Council. We have the entire day tomorrow to celebrate then."

"That seems to be a good idea. Let us get the fire going and we will talk more tomorrow."

_"What a journey this has been for me." A relieved blue-haired warrior from Altea said. "We all successfully got our target out, and here we all are, set to sit down on the only three seats at that Tribal Council, successfully completing our thirty-nine day adventure. There will be no more paranoia, no more challenges, no more idols and advantages, and most of all, no more eliminations. Just myself, Zelda, and Luigi. I could not have asked for anything better."_

With Zelda getting the fire going, the three remaining contestants of the game all laid down, prepared to allow sleep to take over their exhausted bodies.

"...Um..." Luigi suddenly had a question as the two emperors closed their eyes. "We _do _get breakfast tomorrow. Right?"

* * *

**Bikutā **

**Day 39**

* * *

It was the final day of the final three's thirty-nine day adventure. Though, all good things must come to an end. That being said, it was more than appropriate for things to end on a positive note for Marth, Luigi, and Zelda.

For starters, Luigi previously asked of the most important meal of the day right before he went off to sleep. And so, he, Marth, and Zelda made sure there was going to be a breakfast just for the three of them.

_"I... I am still in a state of disbelief right now." The plumber was still in shock. "I... One day I am scared to death of being the first person voted off, the next minute I'm sitting right here on day thirty-nine? ...Is this really real? Am I actually in the final three? ...I... How did this happen to me? ...I... Don't get the wrong idea. I have no regrets at all getting to where I am, but... just... **wow**. People from back home were always telling me to do my absolute best out here, but if they actually told me that I could actually get out here and make it all the way to the end, I would have never believed them for even a second. I was even surprised when I made it to the merge... But to make it to day thirty-nine? I mean, I've already pinched myself repeatedly to make sure I'm not dreaming, but I guess this is a reality! And... I'm really happy about it!"_

"...Oh, is that it?"

Zelda pointed out the few baskets that were sitting right by the tree mail, Marth taking the time to actually read what was in the envelope.

"Congratulations for avoiding elimination, you are finally free, you survived seventeen Tribal Councils, now this reward is meant only to you three."

Zelda giggled. "I guess that's that, then. Let's carry all this to camp."

Grinning out of excitement, Lowell began to pick up a couple baskets filled with supplies and food for the breakfast. "...Do you think we can do it all in one trip?"

"We could if we... _strategize_ about it." Zelda assumed. "However, I know there is not any one of us that would like it if we drop something on the way back to camp."

He frowned. "Darn... You have a point. If we have to go back to get the rest of this, allow us to go with you. I'd rather not have you miss out if you are out there all on your own while we have a head start at breakfast."

"I'd appreciate it, but then again, but the food needs to be watched over by someone until we all get back. We'd rather not have any unwanted bugs all over it and everything."

Luigi raised a finger. "I'll volunteer to watch over the food! ...Maybe I can even start with the cooking so that it would already be started while you two are coming back here!"

Marth nodded in agreement. "Perfect. Sounds like a plan."

_"I gotta say. It was really something out here." He then started to laugh thinking everything over from day one. "The very first day out here, my plan was to not perform terribly in a challenge to avoid being the first out. What happens to me the moment I got on that ship? I was picked by the emperors to take part of a big, opening challenge with Rouge... in front of everyone! ...And we actually won! I **still** remember that! We won the first immunity challenge, but then afterwards, I really thought it was done for when we had to go to Tribal Council. My name came up three times, but I was still here at the end of the night. ...And clearly I don't like it when my name comes up at tribal. Not one bit. But... now I don't have to worry about that anymore. ...And now I have to make my case to ten people that I helped vote out on why I deserve to win a million dollars. I am struggling to hold back tears because I don't want cry right now,... but no matter what happens, if Mario's happy, then I'm happy."_

As Luigi got started with the cooking, the Altean and Hyrulian were both smiling at each other warmly as they wandered along the pathway.

"Well,... I took you here, didn't I?"

She chuckled. "Yes, you did. Happy to see that you are here as well."

"Just look at how far we've come." Lowell was constantly replaying flashbacks. "And to top it all off, we are the last two emperors remaining in this game. Such a satisfying ending on our part."

"Indeed." She agreed. "We are both surprised that we have made it to the final three, let alone both of us making it to this point."

"Oh,... and by the way,..." He stood still for a moment, running his fingers through his colored hair. "I appreciate you for keeping me here..."

"What do you mean?"

"...Was it really a plan for you and Sheik to vote me out of here had I not flipped at the final nine?"

"..." She sighed at the truth. "There is no reason to not state the truth. Yes. However, Sheik informed me that you were flipping, so we decided to vote out Freddy. However, when it came to you and Freddy, I trusted you more. Even though I was fond of the both of you, the main reason to why I trusted you more was that you were on my side a bit longer than Freddy was."

Now that he had all the answers, he nodded calmly in satisfaction. "Fair enough. I suppose I can't see how that would not make sense..."

_"This has been quite a wild ride for me in terms of my game." Marth stated heaving a heavy sigh. "I started to ease my way in, but I think ever since... the part where I got sent to Exile Island for the first time, that was when things began to get quite hectic. It was very all over the place. I found a hidden immunity idol, I get sent to Exile Island multiple times, I got blindsided, been on the bottom, became a swing vote, have my vote taken away... And... after all that, I am_ _**somehow** one of the last men standing when I easily could have been voted out at any point. ...And all my overall plan was to build relationships with others out there, since nobody played this game by themselves, and we were all in the same boat in terms of having stories. ...Mine in particular was that I had to help save my land since my parents were not able to do so... and form an army of my own..."_

Finally the three of them were eating, Marth stuffing pieces of pancake into his mouth, Zelda and Luigi eating the eggs, bacon, and fruit that were on their plates.

"You know, it is apparently a Survivor tradition to burn down the shelter before we leave for tribal." Marth brought up. "We'd have to light up a torch, and someone has to throw it right in so that the shelter can burn down to the ground."

"Ooh, yeah." Zelda just now thought of that. "I have been told about that by the others on our original tribe. We need to make sure we gather all our belongings first so that our stuff would not get burned. ...Who's going to do the honors and throw the torch?"

"Well,... I would not mind if you threw it, Zelda."

"Hmm..." She thought out loud. "Maybe we can let Luigi throw it... What do you think, Luigi?"

Though food was his number one priority, her words never slipped the plumber's mind. "Throw the torch? ...I... I do not think I should do it by myself. You two are in the finals as well, so you have just as many rights to throw the torch as I do. How about all three of us, do it?"

They both laughed.

"Sure thing, Luigi." Marth agreed. "It will be done."

_"So basically, even though there were certain things that occurred which I never would have expected for me personally, yet... I am still here on day thirty-nine. And if I can somehow win,... it would not just be for me. That was what I always thought of. My win would not just be for me, but for also my family, and all of Altea. I really do hope I've made them proud no matter what happened."_

-/-

Later on in the day, Luigi was sitting down at the shelter, resting his face in his hand as he eyed the fire, yet being lost in thoughts all the while. As a result, he never felt Zelda's gaze of concern. Even she could tell that Luigi appeared to have a lot on his mind at the time, which was understandable due to possible reasons that she was well aware of.

However, since curiosity was no stranger in regards to entering the minds of anyone, Zelda felt the urge to ask anyway. "What are you thinking about?"

"...Oh, you know..." He said with a sigh, now taking his cap off to scratch his head. Though unlike most times, the cap actually stayed off, Luigi not being afraid of exposing his hair. Yet, why would he be? People have already seen what his head looked like after thirty-nine days on a random island. "The game..."

"Gathering your thoughts up for final tribal?" She assumed with a small grin.

"Well, that too, but I was mainly thinking of what occurred in the game for me personally. There isn't a day out here that I am not thinking about how shocked I am knowing that I'm still... 'surviving' on Survivor. Now I'm in even _more_ disbelief that I of _all _people happen to be one of the three that never got voted off... I... How am I here?" He finally faced here. "...How am I still here, Zelda?"

Despite her finding it to be a bit humorous, she found his question to be rather relatable. "I understand you. There isn't a day where I do not question myself of the reasons to why I am still out here as well. ...You know, since you do consider yourself to be an underdog... or a _knight_, I believe that you've come a long way if I do say so myself. ...In this game for me, after everything that has been going on,... let's just say that I have more of an understanding of how you feel."

"Really?"

"Honestly." She nodded. "And you know why? ...It is all because of this particular adventure right here. That being said, I... really appreciate you, Luigi. And I want you to know that."

He widened his eyes, yet within a few seconds later, he expressed one of his biggest smiles in a while. "Thank you, Zelda. And I understand what you mean when you say you are an underdog as well. Um... you were labeled as an emperor from the start, but for this season... I guess you've unintentionally stepped onto the other side if you know what I mean."

_"With me helping others, especially with all that went on in Hyrule, I figured that was why I was labeled as an emperor out here. However, if anything, I believe that it turned out to be nearly the exact opposite here. Sure, an emperor and a knight can mean a variety of things, but honestly speaking, I really do felt that I was a knight instead of top-dog this season. Not that I'm complaining of course, since even though I felt that I was an underdog out here, I am sitting here on day thirty-nine against all odds. Every time I was voted for in this season, it was always the other people that got the boot instead. I could have easily been picked off in any of those situations, but... I guess the Survivor Gods never desired things to be that way."_

"Alright, everyone..."

After dipping a torch into the fire, Marth Lowell, as well as Luigi Mario and Zelda were getting ready to say their final goodbyes to the island, as day thirty-nine continued to slowly fade away. Nevertheless, it was the first last time the three of them were on the dying Bikutā tribe. With ten casualities, the remaining three were officially the last survivors standing. Thus, they had the right to burn down the shelter once and for all.

Marth allowed Zelda and Luigi grabbed onto the torch.

"Are we ready?"

"Yeah."

"I am."

"On the count of three..." He stated. "One... two... three!"

And with one throw, the torch landed perfectly in the middle of the shelter.

"Good thing I remembered my hat last minute." Luigi grinned. "What a tragedy it would have been if I got burned with the fire."

"Well, we probably would have noticed, anyway. You were almost always shown to be wearing a hat. Don't worry." She then glanced at Marth. "Now, then. Shall we all get going?"

_"It is truly an honor to be officially part of the Survivor experience. I never thought I would see this day, but I suppose everything happens for a reason. I've always thought this experience to teach someone some sort of lesson. For me personally, based on the type of game that I played and what occurred, the lesson that I have learned that sometimes, stepping into the shoes of others is what it is necessary to have a greater perspective when it comes to this. The emperor turned knight has learned that quite well. ...Of course it is not the only thing that I've learned out here. Though for my game in particular, it is perhaps the main highlight of it all, say if I were to describe my thirty-nine day adventure within a single sentence."_

* * *

**Final Tribal Council**

**Night 39**

* * *

The moment people were all waiting for: Tribal Council number eighteen. Or, to put it simply, the Final Tribal Council of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. Thirty-nine days were either perceived to be as if it was only a short thirty-nine hours, or a long thirty-nine months depending on a person's closure for their Survivor experience.

For the ten members of the jury that were going to be introduced to Zelda, Luigi, and Marth as they walked in the tribal, they had to make sure they were rather comfortable, considering the fact that since they were indirectly going to give one member of the final three a million dollars, they knew that they were going to be at the tribal for a long while. Each word of every statement of what each member of the final three had to say counted.

"We'll now bring in your jury..."

And there they came.

"Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, Foxy, Shovel Knight,... and Sheik voted out at the last Tribal Council."

The ninja of the bunch greeted the finalists with a respectable smirk, excited to help get the show on the road.

"Alright." And with that, the Final Tribal Council meeting officially commenced. "So, here we are. Final three. From left to right, we have Luigi, Zelda, and Marth. Three different games, and here you all are, doing what seventeen others couldn't. You all have gone as far as you can go. Thus, you have a right to plead your case to the ten people on the jury of why you are worthy to win the title of Sole Survivor, and the million dollars that goes along with it, whether you either directly or indirectly voted them out of the game."

"Let us have a recap of the them of this season." Before he could officially kick off the discussion, he desired to go over the theme for one last time. "For Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, the idea of the season was to have ten people that are used to domination and positive perception of others, and ten people that are used to having to fight through to get by as well as proving other wrong with their work ethic and motivation to keep going. Thus, Survivor - Emperors vs Knights was born. Now, here are some things to note: due to the fact that both teams lost two challenges when the game started, both tribes ended up having even numbers by the time the swap occurred, which doesn't happen very often, especially as of late. Another thing worth nothing is Shovel Knight's idol, which was held onto for twenty-five days from day eleven to day thirty-six, making it one of the longest times someone has held a hidden immunity idol."

With Shovel Knight now being the center of attention, Sheik playfully reached out and punched his arm.

"This is also the first time in Survivor history where _two_ advantages are played at one Tribal Council, where as both Sheik and Marth had advantages that came into play. Sheik had a Steal-A-Vote, while Marth had a vote block."

Marth shifted his head towards Sheik who smirked in reply.

"So, here's how this works." He then elaborated on the procedure. "You guys will each make your opening statement. You will explain to the jury of why you think you deserve to win, one by one, the jury members starting with Shulk will have their say as they will address either one, or all three of you on the type of game that you've played. Afterwards, you will all make your final statement to the jury, which will be your last chance to persuade them to your side, and then... we will vote."

They nodded with understanding.

"Zelda, we'll start with you."

"Gladly." She nodded confidently, adjusting her body to face all the jury members. "Good evening, everyone. Before I get started, I just wanted to take a moment to say that I appreciate playing this game with every last one of you. We were all involved in a competition such as this, and including the ones that never made it to the jury phase, we are all aware of how many people apply for the show, and how few actually get in a season. That alone is an accomplishment for all of us."

The jury paid close attention.

"As for as me being in the final three, I will admit that it is something that I never expected. We may set goals for ourselves, yet in the end, due to rather low chances a certain individual has getting to this point, it explains why it seems surreal at first knowing you have successfully completed the full thirty-nine days. For my Survivor experience in particular, after thinking it over all this time, my overall game very well relates to the theme. I was named an emperor when we all first started back on day one. However, as my game began to progress, there have been numerous times where my name was written down at a Tribal Council for multiple reasons. Take the first tribal back on day three for example, where I was targeted for being one of the weakest. And I am pretty sure the old emperors knew it all too well. However, while Peach had her torch snuffed, I was spared."

"Though it was not simply one tribal where this occurred. As the game went on, every time where my name was written down at a vote, it was always the other person that received the axe. Even at merge, where it was myself, Marth, Roy at the bottom against nine others, even though my name was never written down at that time, I had to fight for my alliance in an attempt to save all three of us by throwing Shadow under the bus to get the target off our backs. Though it never worked out in the end, in spite of everything that occurred, this made me came off as more of an underdog, or a knight, rather than emperor. And now, here I am. In spite of the name that I was given, the emperor had to experience what most knights have to undergo in real life to understand both sides of the story. And now that I have more of an understanding of what both parties have to face, it has helped me become a stronger individual both inside and out. And hopefully with your questions, I will gladly elaborate on the details of my gameplay and experience."

Foxy glanced to Master Hand knowing he was getting ready to move on to the next person.

"Luigi."

Chuckling to himself, he cleared his throat to begin his speech. "Hello, everyone. It is great knowing that in spite of how... insecure I may appeared to be in the early stages of the game, overtime, I have developed to be a more confident person than ever before. And what I mean by it is that for example, back on day one, when the season was first starting, I was jumping out of my skin since I honestly... was quite anxious when it officially kicked. ...And imagine what I felt when I was asked to participate in that big opening challenge."

Some of the jury members smirked reminiscing.

"I was one of the only four people that were involved in that. Rouge even told me that we had to the beam over the water in order to impress the knights so that we would not be underestimated. And I could have easily told her no. But then I thought that in order to get over any anxiety I might have had, Rouge's words really sunk in for me. So I ended up doing it, and we won. I could not have been more elated after that. Nonetheless, I was still an early target for not being one of the strongest in the tribe. And of course, I was not surprised in the slightest even though I wanted to stay. Luckily enough, I had good friends that were able to help me survive the night. They... _literally _kept me in and voted out Cloud, the _strongest _guy on the entire tribe. That says a lot. That really told me that they wanted me to stay, because they felt that I was connecting with people way more than Cloud was. When I went to sleep that night, I really took the time thinking about it because I believe that was what gave me the confidence and motivation that I needed out here. You all know about the story about me and my brother, so of course that added on to it."

"But at the same time, I really felt that I owed my alliance something since they saved me. So in order to prove that they made the right decision, since they chose to kick their strongest guy out at our _first_ tribal, I showed them my loyalty so that we could progress through this game together. Sure, I was targeted out of the blue a couple times post-merge, yet for the most part, our alliance stuck together like glue. Yet in the end, not only am I the last one from my alliance, I became from a possible first boot of the tribe, to outlasting all of the other knights out there. So I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who have helped me along the way."

A proud Shovel Knight smiled.

"Marth."

He nodded, turning his body to have full eye contact with the jury. "Greetings, everyone. I suppose for starters, I can perhaps start off with the theme of this season. As Master Hand stated, this season is titled 'Survivor - Emperors vs Knights.' Though, whether you are an emperor or a knight, without a doubt, every last one of us have our own personal stories that relate to the theme rather well, including myself. Though if there is one thing in common, it is simply the fact that we did not play this game by ourselves, yet with each other, whether it be to bond with one another or for strategic reasons. With that being said, it is truly an honor to be sitting here, not just with these two individuals beside me, yet to also be sitting here with all of you on that bench. We were all lucky enough to have made it this far. I am pretty sure every last one of us had a dream that one day, you will have the opportunity to be on the show. And here we all are."

"When it comes to my game, it has been... an adventure to say the least."

Roy, Shulk, and Bonnie snickered a bit at that.

"It went from left to right, up and down, front and back all over again. First the emperors lost the first challenge, I then became part of the reason to why we lost another challenge, I get sent to Exile Island multiple times, with one being _after_ I already found the hidden immunity idol for my tribe. Then, I found myself at the bottom of the merge tribe, yet I was given an opportunity with Zelda to pick and choose which side the two of us wanted to go with, quickly rising from a terrible position, to the most crucial position you could think of. I then... flipped on my alliance mainly in order to save my closest remaining ally, only to have my vote taken away at the very next Tribal Council, where I was literally brought in to work with the Chatan Alliance in spite of me wanting to stay loyal to the other alliance..."

He then sighed. "I highly doubt that was even everything, though I suppose I will think of all the details as I answer your questions. Nevertheless, as you can see, there was quite a bit that occurred during my thirty-nine days out here. And as a result, I do admit that I have absolutely no clue on how the ten of you all perceive me. Though my curiosity is getting the better of me by the second. Hence, the reason to why I am quite interested in hearing what you all might have to say. I assume there will be quite a few questions for the decisions that I've made, and I will try my best to answer them within the best of my ability. Feel free to add in your own personal thoughts as well."

With no words spoken, Master Hand was ready to state the next step in the procedure.

"Alright. Jury, you heard the opening statements from each of the finalists. I will allow you to take a minute to gather your thoughts and think about what you wanna say."

...

Luigi, Marth, and Zelda all eyed the jury as they all simply sat and waited for further instructions.

* * *

**Okay, that's it. This actually turned out a bit longer than expected in comparison to the last story. But hey, at least this chapter was early right? lol**

**Foxy and Shovel Knight's Ponderosa chapters will hopefully be done before Saturday, and maybe Sheik's will be done before the reunion show chapter is up.**

**...Yeah I actually don't have much to say here lol. Let's get to the questions then.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Who do you think is off to a great start with their Final Tribal Council speech?**

**2\. What are your predictions on how the jury will respond to the finalists?**

**3\. Who do you think overall will have the best Final Tribal Council speech?**

**This is the second to last chapter where you guys get to vote on your top five players for this season! As of now, Shadow and Krystal (somehow) ended up in a tie for first place with 6 votes. But it's still not too late! I encourage everyone to review and I will see you all next time where the jurors will have their say and the winner will officially be revealed!**


	48. Chapter 48: Day 39 Part 2

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 48 - Day 39 Part 2

**Well, here it is. The official chapter where the winner is finally going to be revealed. Now in terms of the release dates for this, pther than being five minutes late for this chapter, I've done rather well. Last story I was only late for one chapter in Kodai Island due to laptop charging problems (it wouldn't work right at the time lol). But for this story, not bad at all, even though in case you can't already tell, I do admit I'm struggling a bit to finish this off, with Ponderosa playing a large part of that. (Yeah I know, I have jurors left and here the winner is going to be revealed lol. But hey, I know I have plenty of time to finish those. They will be done no matter what. Regular Survivor series on the TV had Ponderosa videos that are even posted after the reunion show so I am good lol.**

**So yeah, last time was the introduction of the Final Tribal Council, with the three jurors each making their opening statements to the jury (Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, Foxy, Shovel Knight, and Sheik.) Now with these ten personalities, they will each have their own personal opinions in regards to these finalists. They can either address one of them, or all three of them. And whoever the jury decides to vote for, for whatever reason, they will officially win this season.**

**And just so you know, last time, the second part of day 39 was officially my longest chapter at the time. Don't be surprised if (or when) this becomes even longer than that. Chapters like these will always be the biggest chapters in this story since it is the moment of truth after all.**

**With that long beginning author's note out of the way, it is time for us to officially get going. Even more will be stated at the ending author's note when the winner is revealed.**

**~KF**

* * *

**Final Tribal Council**

**Night 39**

* * *

As Master Hand promised, he gave the ten jurors of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights a couple minutes to gather their words together in order to begin addressing the three finalists: Luigi, Marth, and Zelda.

And the host was officially ready to allow them to start once and for all.

"Alright, jury. I believe the final three is ready. Shulk, why don't you get this started?"

"Will do." He sighed getting on his feet before making his way over to stand directly across from the top three finishers of the season. "Okay, guys. Congratulations. Now, before I began addressing, since I'm the first juror here, I feel it's only natural for me to say a couple things first if you don't mind."

"The first thing I wanna say of course, is that I obviously have to give my congratulations to you guys. I'm pretty sure no matter how far everyone went this season including myself, we all really got to finally experience Survivor. I'm pretty sure every last one of us has our reasons to be out here, and the fact that the thirteen of us have this time together alone is everything."

"It's been a pleasure."

"Thanks."

"Thank you, Shulk."

"Now as for the second thing I wanted to say is that to be honest, maybe it was right for me to speak first." He giggled a little. "Because to be honest, I really have no idea who to vote for. There are multiple things that all three of you have that I liked. And I generally enjoyed all three of you. It was worth it spending time with you guys while I was still out there. However, I feel like I have to do something since I'm undecided. So here's some advice to all three of you: in case you don't know already, as much as this game is about lying, cheating, and stealing, since we are going to give one of you a million dollars, that will change someone's life forever, we feel that this is the time to… you know, be honest about your decisions."

"Whatever these guys ask, answer their questions within the best of your ability. You know why? Because all they are doing is their job: they're trying to gather all the information they need to influence their decision. With all due respect to all three of you, I'm pretty sure none of us would desire giving someone the money (and of course, the title of Sole Survivor), when we feel as if somebody is not being truthful, because suppose it was like that, and yet the person sitting beside you was being truthful the entire time, and then we would all regret not giving the money to that person. ...Now I know that clearly none of you are the type to do that."

They all laughed.

"I mean, you all understand what I'm trying to say. Just be confident with your answers and you're good to go. The jury will be doing the thinking from there."

Turning on his heel, he headed back for his spot on the bench.

"Thanks, Shulk…" Time for juror number two. "Roy, you're up."

"Thank you, master..."

Marth was already smirking.

"Well..." The red-haired, Young Lion himself clamped his hands together. "I guess it is time to do my part, now that I have been inactive from the game for a couple weeks. I'd like to take the time to address all three of you. Marth, I'll start with you of course. Early in the game, apparently, Ghirahim made the false assumption that you, me, Peach, Zelda, Mega Man, and Pac-Man were all in this supposed 'Pair Up Alliance', stating that me and you were a pair."

He popped an eyebrow.

"According to Shulk, Freddy, and Shadow, those were his words." He cited his sources. "Yet, even though that clearly was not entirely true, or at least at first, over time, the two of us learned more about each other as the days go on. We are both swordsmen who were both fighting for our lands. And it came to the point where you were indeed my number one ally out here, hence the reason I was eliminated."

"And I had to unfortunately idol you out of the competition." The pain he felt within him was as if it was actually happening again. "It still bothers me that I was the actual target everyone wished to get rid of, only to have you pay the price for my own game..."

He chuckled. "Well if I'm not bothered by it, you shouldn't be either. It is nothing but a game. I'm fine. Really. However, since we were both each other's main ally in the game, you took the time to get to know me, and I took the time to get to know you as well. ...Your game was... kind of a chaotic journey. Was it not?"

"Indeed it was." He nodded. "It is as if it was night and day, hot and cold, up and down, left and right, you name it. My gameplay was all over the place to say the least. One minute things are calm, the next it is the exact opposite."

"And judging by your reaction you clearly never meant for things to turn out the way it did." The younger survivor laughed again. "Though, I have one simple question to ask of you. Simply what were you classified when this game began?"

"An emperor."

"Exactly." He felt there was a point he had to make. "The master stated back on day one that an emperor is always someone that takes matters into his own hands and take advantage of nearly every situation they come across by using any strategy necessary. You even added that it was about taking control of your own fate. And from what I heard from a couple of your fellow jurors here, of... how well you actually lived up to your name."

"Just think about it. You found the tribe's hidden immunity idol, you've been sent to Exile Island multiple times, you have been on the bottom with me and Zelda, only to have the both of you be at the most powerful position at the very next tribal, you flipped from Chatan, you were force to flip _back _to Chatan, and by the words of my fellow jurors, you apparently used Knuckles in order to increase your position in the Chatan Alliance. And that I believe was what stuck out to me."

Still feeling the shame from falling for it, the echidna shook his head with a sarcastic grin.

"...That was your intention, right?" He just wanted to make sure. "To use Knuckles in order to help your ownself out there?"

"Correct..." The Altean warrior confirmed.

"I thought so. And then to top it all off, in spite of everything that went on in your game, both you _and _Zelda are sitting at that final three, against all odds that the both of you have faced. The both of you even outnumbered the amount of knights in that final three, when the both of you outlasting everybody despite the circumstances. You say that it was not your intention for things to be that way for you, Marth, though what you probably do not realize is that you basically played the emperor card extremely well out here. You truly lived up to it, and that is pretty much all I have to say."

He smiled warmly with a sigh. "Thank you, Roy. I appreciate it. Perhaps I can invited you to travel to Altea."

"That would be wonderful..." His head then turned to the brunette. "Now as for you, Zelda, like I just told Marth, you went from the bottom of the totem pole, to where you are sitting right now. If I had to be the sacrifice for that, then so be it. Seeing you reach the end of the game was also rather satisfying to watch. You were targeted quite often in this game. Now I will say this: even though that to me sounds more like a knight, I would be downright foolish if I said that was your fault, because it was not. It is Survivor. It is not as if we can predict the future of what our games would become. And also, adjusting from emperor to knight is not bad at all. If anything, that is a great transition. Like you said in your opening statement: sometimes stepping into other's shoes is necessary for something. And what stands out is that you clearly proved to be a smart player out here, both making subtle and big strategic moves in order to get by. You even won a couple immunity challenges, proving even more that you could also be a knight. That being said, you have my upmost respect as well."

"Thank you, Roy."

"Anytime." Finally he went onto the only original Chatan member. "Luigi, like the other two, you had a great story out there. And like Marth, you also lived up to your name really well in your own way. You stepped up in the first challenge, you won the first immunity challenge, you overcame so many personal obstacles, and you bonded with your brother on that family visit reward, who is quite literally your big inspiration. Is that true?"

"Indeed he is. I'll say yes to that a thousand times over." He nodded greatly. "Mario is the reason of who I am today. He always gives me that extra push that I need at times whenever I feel down. So now that I have completed my thirty-nine day adventure here, I can show Mario of how far I have come."

"I'm sure he would love it." Roy reassured him. "Being the last of the knights with a story such as yours is worth looking at. However, there is something that I want to say here."

"?"

"You know, after the merge occurred, specifically after Shulk was blindsided, it took for me to be on the bottom of the totem pole with Marth and Zelda against nine other people to realize that I have been doing something wrong..." He admitted with all eyes staring him down. "And it is something that I regret to this day, since for all I know, this could be both my first and last time playing a game such as this. Since I am only one of the twenty players this season, knowing what it is like to be out here, and knowing how exciting it is that we all had such a rare opportunity to compete in a game such as this, when you're out here for thirty-nine days, you might as well take the time to get to know people... And I believe I have found that out the hard way."

"I realized that I was not actually getting to know my tribemates enough. All I was caring about was getting to the next day with some sort of game plan so that I would not be voted out. Of course I didn't give up on that day, but when I realized that my chances of surviving have greatly decreased after Shulk's departure, it really occurred to me. I should have been bonding with my tribemates heck of a lot more. That's why I approached you and Knuckles that day, because at the time I felt we didn't really had that much of a relationship going. I felt a bit ashamed because in a game like Survivor, it is not really that difficult to share a couple conversations here and there with others, especially since you... have to basically for obvious reasons."

"So for you in particular, I am afraid you share a similar problem. Outside of your core alliance with Greninja, Shovel Knight, and Sheik, you never really bonded or interacted people outside of that, especially with whoever was on the bottom, whether it was the old emperors or... the _ Pirate Crew_ alliance..."

Though Foxy's laugh was nothing but a snicker, he really wanted to laugh out loud in front of everybody.

"But really. I mean, if you desire to have the jury vote for you, at least take the time to get to know each and every single one of these people up here, and not just the ones you were closest with. That is... pretty much why Shovel Knight became a threat for his social game. Perhaps it you would have followed his example, than you would have became a bit more of a threat."

Luigi actually took the time to think about it.

"Thanks, Roy." Master Hand watched Roy head backs to his spot. "Shadow, you're up."

"Let's get this over with." He made his way over to face the three. "Alright, here goes. Now before I start, as much as I desire to sit in the finals, I should at least give you the respect that you all have made it when I haven't. That alone should be an accomplishment for all of you."

If that was Shadow the Hedgehog's way of giving his congratulations to the three remaining survivors, they all took note and took them with no hesitation.

"You know the saying of how you could kill two birds with one stone?"

"That I'm aware of..." commented Marth.

"Good, because tonight I'm going for three. I'm going to address all three of you at once and then I'll decide if I want to add any additional comments." He said. "Now, in my opinion, I believe all three of you relied on Sheik in some way."

She had a fist beneath her chin eyeing her former opponent in the game.

"The three of you at different points rode her coattails in such unique ways. However, not saying that it was always a bad thing." Shadow wanted to avoid any potential misunderstanding before he went on. "Marth, for example, he actually played smart. He literally had no choice but to do whatever Sheik says. I would have done the same thing, as much as I might have hated. As long as I didn't get voted out, that was what I would have done. Zelda on the other hand, had nowhere else to go. Her power was taken away when Marth flipped on her, and she had to rely on Sheik for backup to guarantee her stay, with even Marth helping her stay as well, so she was probably never going home no matter what. However, in spite of the two of us not being on the same page, at least I can say that Zelda had to fight to get to the finals in her own way. And she did. I have no problems with her gameplay. Our personalities, gameplay,... but _ mostly_ our personalities didn't really seem to connect really well. And I'm pretty sure Zelda knows that.

She blinked.

"I doubt we would ever really get along, but I still gotta pay my respects. You fought hard." He folded his arms and moved onto Luigi. "For Luigi, I felt that he rode the coattails of the one who carried the alliance, which was Sheik. Had it not been for her, I really do not know if any of the final three would be sitting there. But for Luigi, he actually rode the coattails of Shovel Knight more than Sheik. He was his number one ally, yet for the entire game, I do not recall him making a single strategic move of any way, shape, or form. What has he actually done? ...Anything outside of Shovel Knight's permission?"

"...But, that was kind of the point of my strategy. That is exactly why I chose to stay silent and just do whatever people told me to do to avoid being targeted." Luigi defended himself. "I knew that the loudest ones were going to be targeted first, so if I didn't choose to be quiet for my advantage, then I'm Luigi, public enemy number one."

"And you took it too far. I watch Survivor as well; I am well aware that the 'under the radar' strategy exists. Though there's a difference between under the radar and not being on the radar at all. My alliance wanted to blindside you at eleven due to you being the least likely to have an idol in your pocket. And I literally told them that I thought it was not a smart move since you were not a threat... but I decided they were right anyway. I felt that you were never really a threat in the game at all for a reason. At least Shovel Knight found an idol and actually became a threat because there was at least something about him that everyone could relate to..." His eyes pointed at the ground for a moment. "...including me..."

Marth and Zelda looked rather surprised as Shovel Knight glanced off to the side a bit.

"I ended up having a private conversation with him because I needed to vent with someone since I was mad at Marth and Zelda for almost blindsiding me in Roy's place..." He recalled. "I told him that it is almost as if no one is ever satisfied no matter what decision I make, whether it be in game in real life. I would not go into details of the latter, but eventually he told me that no matter what I had to do, he told me to never stop trying to achieve whatever I was trying to accomplish. So basically in other words, don't give up. It's simple, true, but I felt it was what I needed to hear. So, I had to continue to fight and live up to my own game no matter how many times I was targeted. ...But with Shovel telling me that he had to use every ounce in his body to achieve his goals, that was something I could relate to... So overall, I haven't_ completely_ decided on who to vote for, though I will be thinking about until I go up to that urn over there. That is all."

"Thanks, Shadow... Greninja?"

"Let's do this..." Up on his feet, he nimbly made his way over to face his fellow competitors. "Alright, everyone. Congrats on you all being the chosen three that made it all the way to the end when everyone else including myself couldn't. I have something that I want to ask all three of you, but you all are getting the same question. Luigi, since we were both in the same alliance, we had a tighter bond than I had with Zelda and Marth, so you are going to be first tonight... And I probably already know at least a bit of your answer, but I'm gonna ask anyway: what obstacles exactly have you gone over?"

"..." He blinked. "You mean in the game or outside the game?"

"I mean, it could be either or, but I'm leaning towards gameplay."

"I guess I'll talk about what obstacles I have overcome in the game." Mario's brother decided. "So during the days of this Survivor adventure, I had feelings of nervousness, anxiety, and a bit of paranoia. Sure for basically everyone here, we are all paranoid at some point since we don't want to be voted off."

"And look what happened to me." He snickered.

"Haha, yeah. But in my real life, since Mario unintentionally gets most of the attention, because of him interacting the people of the Mushroom Kingdom the most, I think it led to me not having as many social skills like he has. And since social strategy and bonding is ninety-nine percent of this game, I knew overcoming my anxiety was one thing I had to do. Thus, I approached Shovel Knight. And he tells me that you and Sheik were the right people to talk to, because you two were the ones that he was already getting along and bonding with."

"And as a result, time and time again it proved that it was the right choice to make, so I went the extra mile and I made sure I stayed close with all three of you, and it... came to the point to where we were called the 'Chatan Four.'"

Some members of the jury laughed including Sheik, Shovel Knight, and Greninja himself.

"And sure, we had to cannibalize each other at times, but for the work we did put in, I am quite proud of, especially since in the end, the Chatan Alliance ended up winning the war (no offense for those who were on the other side of course). But getting back to the point, due to those close relationships that we established, comparing myself from the early days of the game to now, I can say that I have evolved. I know there is no changing overnight, but every night that passes, I feel like I am making great progress. So..." He held his hand out. "I guess I gotta thank you, Greninja. You, Sheik, and Shovel Knight really made my adventure heck of a lot easier."

He actually blushed. "I... I'm glad I had the opportunity to be part of your Survivor life. I have no doubts that our friendship will last forever. ...So Zelda, what about you? What obstacles did you have to overcome?"

"Well,... I suppose as far as that goes, I would have to go back to what my real life was back in Hyrule before I came out here. Perhaps it was the main reason to why I was classified as an emperor in this game. ...Hyrule had... quite a few hardships. There were a couple natural disasters, and even a couple attacks that occurred. And I am not exaggerating when I say that Hyrule suffered quite a bit as a result. I... I just did want to see Hyrule in the state that it was any longer, and I always wanted to best for my people... So it..." She sighed, trying to pull herself together. "I am about to get emotional at the Final Tribal Council..."

"It's okay." Greninja shook his head. "If you need to let something out, go ahead and do it. This is about being vulnerable, so crying is not a crime. We're all with you."

"Thank you..." She went on. "So I became known as one of the main people that helped Hyrule get back on its feet. Not just for giving my fellow Hyrulians enough motivation, but to also show them that the best thing to do was to always look forward. Some of them were not in the best of moods, feeling as if things were never going to get better for us, so I had to show them and give them the extra push that they needed. So when it relates to Survivor,... I felt that I probably had to give my own self the extra push that I needed. Keep going and look forward."

"Never give up." He smiled warmly. "You know what they say... You can do anything if..."

"You can do anything if you set your mind to it."

Almost all members of the jury clapped in applause.

"_Exactly_." It was time for Greninja to move on to the swordsman of the trio. "Marth. Now out of the three here, I think I don't know as much about you as I want to. Probably because of the fact that I've known Luigi since day one, and I have known Zelda since the swap. Thus, I doubt I am that much aware of the personal obstacles you had to face. So if there is anything obstacle you felt you had to get over, we are all listening."

"Long story short, basically similar to Zelda's." Though Marth Lowell knew he had to elaborate anyway. "I would also need to go back to what occurred in my life outside of Survivor back in Altea. After my father's death, I had to lead an entire army in order to save Altea. It was not something I ever dreamed, or at least not at the time. However,... the last thing I wanted was to see Altea go down. I was never going to allow that on my watch. Thus, I knew I had to do what I had to do. With the extra support of my brothers and sisters in Altea, I was able to give it my all, overcome my enemies and obstacles along the way."

"Thus, when it compares to Survivor, since my game was all over the map, the main obstacle I had to get over is basically a lesson. When you set goals for anything you try to achieve, you must stop at nothing to achieve them. My goal back in the day was to make Altea victorious, my goal out here was to become the Sole Survivor. Though even if I am not the winner for the season, then my goal would have simply been to find a way to reach the end... No matter what it took... And despite everything that happened, I am sitting here."

"Well, I don't know how the votes are gonna be for the season, but from what I heard according to Master Hand, the person who always got sent to Exile Island after a swap, has never won the game. We swapped at sixteen, and you had to head back to Exile Island. So if you are the Survivor Gods' chosen one, you would officially re-write Survivor history."

He nodded with a grin. "That is quite interesting."

"All three of you have given me great answers. I will take the time to think about all three of them."

"Thanks, Greinja..." Now it was time for the first FNAF character to step up. "Freddy, you're up."

Time for juror number five. "Well, hello everyone. Congrats on outlasting all the others out here. Though I really want to give both Marth and Zelda a shout out. Before the Shulk Tribal Council took place, due to me being targeted by the Knights Alliance, my life was on the line out here. Yet thanks to the Pirate Crew, I ended up staying even longer. However, I had to pay the price by flipping on you two and Roy, putting the rest of my fellow emperors in an even more dangerous situation."

Foxy and Bonnie grinned.

"You both were given the option to work with us, or against us, and because of Shadow, you chose the latter because you two thought that he was not meant to be trusted. However, it was not the main highlight when it came to blindsiding him in my opinion. The most interesting part was that you two took him out despite the old emperors already being at a huge disadvantage at the time. By the time he left, you two and I were the only three emperors left... But somehow, against all odds, there are more emperors than knights at the final three. So..." He actually clapped a couple times. "Great job, you two. I'm pretty sure neither of you even expected to be sitting there, but if you made it to the end, you've made it to the end."

"Thank you, Freddy." Zelda stated.

"It was a pleasure starting on the same tribe as you." Marth beamed.

"Now for you, Zelda, I have something that I want to ask you in particular. Of the three of you sitting there, me and you had the closest relationship. I was struggling a bit out on the island where we all started. Not that I was shy or anything, just that I was struggling to adapt because I was curious to what people thought of me basically. That part at the final nine, where Sheik apparently asked you on who would you rather work with since you were on the outs. It was between me and Marth, and apparently you chose to keep him in over me. Kind of unfortunate on my part, since if I stayed, it kind of would have went in an alternate direction for the season, since otherwise, Marth would have been voted out and Sheik would have took my vote, explaining that the bond between you and Marth was stronger than me with you. So was it because of the fact that the both of you being on the outs at first who then became swing votes that strengthened the relationship between the two of you?"

Marth even had the nerve to eye Zelda directly.

"Well, yes." She was not hesitant giving her answer. "Now me and Marth both had our ups and down. And honestly, us two being on the outs with Roy did in fact drew us closer than ever, especially when me and Marth became two crucial swing votes. So because of that history, that was what made me tell Sheik that I'd rather keep him over you."

"Fair enough." Her answer was satisfying in his opinion. "Just don't think I'm trying to be jealous or anything because you chose him over me."

That caused a few giggles from people.

"Now for Marth, we talked a bit, yes. But I don't think our relationship really started to get places until the day where I was set to be voted off. Though as Zelda said, the bond between the two of you was undoubtedly one of the most crucial relationships throughout this entire game. And this has to come up at some point. What exactly were your thoughts on the Greninja blindside where you flipped on the Chatan Alliance? Especially since minutes before tribal, you told me who was the target of my alliance which resulted in me playing the idol correctly."

"Allow me to explain." He began. "Shadow was blindsided out of the game because me and Zelda found him to be too untrustworthy to keep around. He already backstabbed the emperors twice. Though for me, he was the only reason why I agreed with Zelda to vote out someone from your alliance. So I never really thought that we were in a good position at all in the Chatan Alliance. I've tried to get Zelda to turn and flip with me, but we weren't seeing eye to eye at the time. Thus, I chose to flip by myself in order to protect her. I went back in the majority, and I whispered to Zelda that I was going to make sure she stayed in the game given the chance that your alliance brings her up to the surface."

"Alright, then. That's a good answer." Freddy faced the master. "Well, guess that's it for me."

"Thanks, Freddy. Bonnie, you're up next."

"Coming..." Juror number six was up. "Alright. I think this is my time to stand up and speak for all the under the radar players out here. So clearly I am not the most aggressive player up here. But in spite of that, I believe both my biggest move _and_ subtle move was when I threw Luigi's name out there at the final eleven as the target for that Tribal Council."

Luigi widened his eyes. "Wait... _You_ did it?"

"Yep. That was me." He stated with a sigh. "I briefly threw your name out there for multiple reasons. I didn't want to come into the final three with a blank résumé, you were the safest option in your alliance since we had no idea if you guys were gonna get suspicious or not, and I figured that if the Pirate Crew had to cannibalize each other (that is if we actually made it far enough), I would be the last targeted because I wouldn't be seen as the most aggressive player so that I had the chance to make it further the most. How ever, in Cambodia, one of the jurors questioned the final three on what their most _subtle _move was in the game. So for this season, I will be doing the same thing. I'll start with... Zelda."

"Hmm... I think I remember a few moves that were made so subtly..." She placed a fist beneath her chin in thought. "I'm trying to figure out which one of them stood out the most... I would say that it was probably when after I won the immunity challenge, Master Hand announced that there was going to be one more reward for the season last minute, so I recruited both Marth and Sheik. Due to their unique positions in the alliance, I wanted the two to settle their differences strategically, ensuring that we were all going to be loyal to one another for at least a couple more votes... And... I guess it actually worked until Sheik became too big of a threat to keep around at four."

She chortled a bit from her spot on the bench.

"However, I think the most subtle one of them all was when I was asked by Sheik of who I wanted to keep around: either Marth or Freddy. Since me and Marth had a stronger relationship than I had with Freddy, I figured that he was more likely to stay loyal to me strategically, especially since I was in a bad spot when Greninja got eliminated."

"Good choices." He nodded in satisfaction. "Marth?"

"Alright, I believe my most subtle move was made after I ended up being in one of the most awkward positions when it comes to being in an alliance after the Freddy blindside. I was held hostage by Chatan, and it seemed that there was nothing I could do about it. So in order to increase my power in the alliance, as you all already know, while you were at the Loved Ones visit, I manipulated Knuckles into him thinking that him flipping would mean that the two of us could work together, since I knew that Knuckles still trusted me at the time."

Though smirking, he exhaled through his nose and shook his head out of regret.

"However, the real plan was that the move would benefit me more than it did him, since Knuckles later faced backlashed for flipping as he was called out by Foxy after the Tribal Council." He recalled. "Meanwhile, I informed my alliance of him flipping and we came up with a plan to split the votes between Bonnie and Foxy to ensure my loyalty. And in spite of me only working with Knuckles for one more tribal, overall, I was left undetected."

"Okay, so even though you clearly wanted to work with my alliance a little more, you are partly the reason why I got voted out." The anthropomorphic bunny grinned. "I mean, I blame most of my elimination on my buddy Foxy,"

He even had the nerve to own up to it by beaming the biggest move and bobbing his head up and down greatly, causing a few laughs to be heard.

"but I thought that was a good strategic plan. That's how you play double agent. Good work."

"I thank you."

"Luigi?"

"Honestly, the main thing I can think of is aligning with Shovel Knight, which helped me align with the Sheik and Greninja, forming the Chatan Four altogether. And now, look what happened." It was there was a definition for 'keeping it simple', Luigi's face would have appeared right next to it.

"Well,... can't say that is not true." Bonnie Roberts agreed. "Your alliance did prove victorious in the end, even though you are the only original member of the Chatan Four with two people who joined later. I'll give you props for that... Alright, master. That's it from me."

"Thanks, Bonnie... Knuckles?"

"Let's do this..." The echidna with dreads made his way over. "Well,... Hello guys. I feel like I gotta say _something _to all three of you. This is the first and most likely only time us four got to play together, depending on whoever comes back for a future All Star season or whatever. Luigi, I'll start with you first. I initially didn't know what to say with you, but thanks to Roy, now I do. I gotta admit it. And it pains me to say this because I'm pretty sure we all want the best for you, since I know what it is like to be an underdog in life, especially given my... 'childhood' past. The other jurors here already know what I've gone through, but I'll tell ya later afterwards since for now I want to get to the point. The viewers will already know about what happened with me since I've explained the details of it in a confessional."

"But anyway, Roy made some pretty valid points about your social game. Now, he wasn't on the same tribe with you until the swap where you two were on Motobu together, so that already cost some time for any relationship between the two of you. However, I started on the exact same tribe as you on day one, and throughout the entire game, I can still say that we never really connected at all that much for the thirty something days we were together. That's why I snapped at your alliance when Shadow got voted off. Though at least your closest allies acknowledged me for at least a _bit_. Nonetheless, the probably with you four is that it was dead obvious that it was about you four and you four only on the Chatan tribe."

Greninja, Sheik, and Shovel Knight stared at Knuckles directly without uttering a word.

"However, of the four of you, I think that you were without a doubt the most silent. Literally the only people who you have shown to care about are Greninja, Sheik, and Shovel Knight. Most of the time you only spoke to me was when you were spoken directly to, where as your own ally, Shovel Knight, was quite literally the exact opposite. And of the four of you, he was the most social with everyone. So he... gets a small pass."

The knight blinked.

"But with you, I simply can't say the same. And don't get me wrong. Even though I have more of a, um... aggressive personality, at least I am not afraid to have at least a couple conversations with everyone here and there." He allowed the plumber to think it over as his eyes shifted to Zelda. "Now as for you Zelda, even though we butted heads a couple times, you've proven to be a force to be reckoned with. After everything you've gone through, you lived up to be a knight, rather than an emperor. I think that'll be interesting to watch on TV even though you don't have one at home."

She chuckled at that.

"However,... even though you seem to be a good person, I think after the Freddy blindside when you worked with Sheik to decide who you'd rather go out with to the prom and all,..."

Both Freddy and Marth widened their eyes as literally everyone else (including Master Hand) laughed.

"But, seriously." Yet Knuckles had to stay on point. "Even though you were proven to be a strategic player, I believe after that Freddy vote, you... kinda took a step back as if almost completely turned your strategic game down. I mean, sure there was a couple subtle move in places, but basically I felt that the rest of your game was doing whatever Sheik told you to do until you got rid of her last minute. ...But then again, you did get rid of her when you needed to, so... I think I'll let you slide with that. ...But answer this: was turning down your strategy by a few notches your plan the rest of the game?"

"To put it briefly, probably not." She admitted. "And... you are correct. My strategy took a step back a bit for the most part. Though I believe I was more focused on rebuilding my relationship with Marth in order for the two of us to stay in touch strategically. Long story short, for the rest of the game I believed it was more about my social game rather than my strategic game. And also, this is probably because of the fact that back in the pre-merge, it was where I was the most targeted, especially at the Peach vote and the Pac-Man vote. Post-merge, there were bigger threats both alliances had to get rid of."

Nodding as if he thought she had a valid point, for him, Marth was last, but simply not least.

"Marth,... hmm..." Folding his arms, he actually formed a smirk. "I gotta say that in comparison to Zelda, your game actually kicked up. Worst case scenario, you would have just cowardly rode Sheik's coattails to the very end thinking that she would be ticked at you for getting rid of her, and that you would have lost all respect for the jury even though the whole advantage thing wasn't your fault. So we would have been in the wrong for that. And yet, you had the guts to make some decisions to increase your power in the Chatan Alliance not being afraid to work behind the scenes for your own benefit... and going as far as manipulating me. And yeah, I'll admit it. I was a fo-... a _Knucklehead_ as a very wise man have said... _countless_ times. Not just once."

Once again there were snickers that sounded from the jury bench.

"I actually have quite a bit of respect for you. Especially just now when you said that you will stop at nothing to achieve your goal. You may have been down at the time after Freddy's elimination, but you have very much proven that you were not going down without a fight. Just my style. I wasn't going down without a fight after my buddy Shadow got blindsided. Hopefully the producers will put a hashtag, 'Justice for Shadow' at the bottom of the screen again.

Shadow smirked heavily, even with somewhat of an evil look.

**#JusticeforShadow**

"Judging by how things played out, you are clearly a strong person... And that is... pretty much all I have to say."

"Thanks, Knuckles."

"Thank you, Knuckles..." That actually made Marth so happy, he was struggling to hold back tears. Yet he desired to let Knuckles know how he felt. "I really appreciate it. That means a lot to me..."

"Foxy?"

"Okay..." He stood up and walked over to face the finalists. "Well,... congratulations. The captain of this crew didn't make it, but you three did. My plan for tonight was to direct my comments mostly at Marth and Luigi. However, when it comes to Marth, Knuckles and Roy stole the words right outta my mouth. So Marth, I don't think you need to hear it twice. You are quite the player. Your entire gameplay screamed emperor all over it, and you without a doubt should be proud of that.

His smile was still there. "Much appreciated, Foxy. I suppose it was meant to be when it came to me being on the Emperors tribe after all."

"It was. And for you, Zelda, you do seem to be a hybrid of both an emperor and a knight in a way. You're an emperor in your real life, yet in game, you have proven to be more of a knight, yet still be classified as an emperor. So that was kinda neat. You have every right to be proud of yourself."

"Thank you." She nodded.

He nimbly moved on. "Now as for you, Luigi, now... I wanna say something. Let's get this out the way... So I called out Knuckles the other night after Bonnie had to leave the game because of him making a dumb, pointless move. Big moves are necessary, but sometimes people take it to far, and are blinded by the fact that Survivor isn't all about big moves to begin with, especially in the early seasons. Times have changed now, but people like 'Brussel Hants' fail to understand to this day. You don't have to make ten million big moves and flips in order to get the cash."

"However, I think what some of these people are trying to say is that at the same time, it doesn't mean do the exact opposite by not doing anything at all."

"..."

"Now I understand that for the most part there was not much you could do, but at the same time, your strategic game was almost non-existent, your social game wasn't as strong as Shovel Knight, or probably anyone in the Chatan Four, and you have won no challenges. So there isn't really much to go on here. Sure, we can all say that you had a good story about the relationship you had with your brother and you overcoming your personal obstacles, but that is pretty much all you have. I would like to think of reasons to why you were a threat in the season, but for the most part, outside of being a safe vote at times, people didn't consider you to be a threat at all for a reason. It's not like it as between you and Sheik, but it was between Shovel Knight and Sheik. They were the biggest threats in your alliance. Greninja was already out of the game at the time. But I think the thing is, you were so busy being worried about what people thought of you, as well as evolving your character to overcome your obstacles, you likely forgot that you needed to have some sort of résumé when it comes to facing the jury."

He sighed in reply. "...I... I can take criticism. I don't want anyone thinking that I can't take any criticism, because that's why we're all here..."

"See, the thing is with me, I guess my story out here is of me trying to figure out how can I balance my strategic game with my social game. I wanted to make some moves whenever they were necessary to make, yet at the same time make real, legit friendships out here, and I actually did kill two birds with one stone. That being said, it's all about having some middle ground here. Making pointless, dumb moves don't cut it, but at times, relying on nothing but your personal story isn't enough either."

"Thanks, Foxy... Shovel Knight?"

"I'm on my way..."

Luigi had his gaze on him the entire time.

"Hello, you three!" He greeted happily. "Before I start, I just wanted to say that since it's been well known that each and every last one of us has our own, individual stories out here, my own story revolved around this whole thing being just another adventure for Shovel Knight. You all are already aware of some of the things me and my partner accomplished."

"But if I have to say one thing, it would be this: this game is more than just an adventure. I have to say that it was quite something for me. I have never connected with as many people at once in a while, which is basically the whole thing in the first place. I have made great friendships out here, with ones that I will never forget, while at the same time facing such harsh conditions such as limited food and supplies, competing in brutal challenges, costing multiple people a million dollars every time someone had to be voted off, and surviving under constant paranoia, with barely even getting sleep at night... Not to mention that it rained quite a bit. So... it has been an absolute pleasure on meeting every last one of year. I have stories to tell Shield about every person that I have interacted with out here, and I am sure she'll be glad to hear about all of them."

He received many thanks from not just the final three alone, but also his fellow jurors.

"Now with that out of the way, for my jury duty, not knowing exactly how to vote, I chose to be the listener and the observer for the most of it. Like Shulk, I am a bit undecided. However, I simply have one thing to say, and that is for Luigi... And by the looks of it, you're ready for it. You're smiling already."

Indeed he was.

"I... I don't even know where to start to be honest. I suppose we can go back to the moment you approached me looking for not just an ally in the game, but also a friend. I took you in without hesitance, and suggested that you talk with Sheik and Greninja, and the story went on from there. I didn't even have to be at your first tribal in order for you to survive. And to be honest, while I was on exile, I was actually worried sick about you. It would have been hard on you if you would have been the first eliminated from your tribe. Realistically speaking, thinking logically on there, as much as I wanted you to survive, I actually doubt you would actually make it... Say a twenty-five percent chance..."

He nodded as if he understood. Luigi had no reason to blame him.

"But the moment when I found out that Cloud was eliminated, I was surprised, but glad. You were offered a second chance, and from that point on, we bonded more than ever before, until I had to be eliminated at five. To summarize everything, you really have grown throughout the past thirty-nine days. I am not lying when I said that I was planning on taking you to the end so that the both of us would be sitting there, but perhaps it is more poetic in your case, considering that I had to leave the game. I got voted out, and now you are sitting right there. And one thing that really almost had me emotional is when you compared me to your blood related older sibling... It touched my heart."

The moment after that sentence was spoken, Shovel immediately began to receive looks of empathy from the jury.

"...Overall, to summarize it in one sentence,... I am proud of you."

"Thanks, Shovel Knight." Luigi quickly wiped any potential tears that were set to escape his eyelids. "You will always be one of the closet friends I have ever had."

"...Well,..." He faced the master. "that is it for me, then. It is an honor having me here, master."

"Glad to have you Shovel Knight." Master Hand clearly never had the ability to smile due to his lack of a face. Though anyone with a brain knew that even he had feelings. "Alright, Sheik. Finish this off..."

Placing a hand on Shovel Knight's shoulder as she stood up, she had to make the longest trip over to the same spot where all the other jurors stood.

"Okay, final three." She placed her hands on her hips. "Since I am last in line, I'd figure I would finish this strong. Though I have no questions, I do want to address you guys. Zelda, I'll start with you first... You know, I think it still is something that we have never met."

"I agree." She could not have agreed more. "I absolutely agree."

"I am no stranger to being aware of the 'Downfall of Hyrule' as they call it. But somehow, I have never even heard of your name before. But nonetheless, that was a head start to our connection. The Survivor Gods clearly wanted us to be close allies. That's why we were both on Chatan together post-swap. Although, I know that you know that while we were on Chatan, you were at one of your lowest points in your adventure aside from the three versus nine situation."

"You're not wrong." Zelda knew that Sheik understood what she gone through.

"And then after that, you were in a position of power, and then you saved my entire alliance without us even knowing that we were in grave danger to begin with. I don't know how much you thought of it, but I... felt like I owed ya something, you know? So, we talked about what we were gonna do about Marth and Freddy, and everyone here knows the rest. And like how Shovel Knight bonded with Luigi, I bonded with you as well. So... hopefully we can finally see each other in Hyrule. I'll make arrangements."

She giggled. "Hopefully we'll see each other again soon."

"Luigi," The ninja immediately moved on. "congrats on being the only member from not just the original Chatan Four alliance, but for also being literally the only one of the Knights Tribe in the final three. You outlasted all nine of us... that really is something."

"Thank you." He said with a smirk.

"You really outlasted every one on your tribe, even though you received votes at your first Tribal Council. You really have come a long way. And I would say more, but the rest of what I was going to say, Shovel Knight basically already said." Thus, she moved onto Marth. "_Marth_... Well?"

He was not afraid of laughing.

"Despite what happened at nine, and despite you 'being held captive' in my alliance, you _still _outsmarted me in a way... You are just unstoppable. That's pretty much it, really."

"Honestly I am shocked myself that I was able to pull it off in the end in terms of me getting here."

"You really are something." She turned her head from side to side. "I mean, there's pretty much nothing else that needs to be said... People at home are probably gonna say that Sheik made one of, if not the biggest move of the season only to have Marth outlast her in the end."

That proved to be quite humorous to the jury.

"Well,... I guess it is what it is. We're all gonna go to the reunion show and laugh. I'm out."

"Thanks, Sheik." Master Hand was ready to move on. "Alright, jury. You all had your chance to address Luigi, Zelda, and Marth, and now we're going to hear their final statements. And then... we vote. Final three, this is your _ last_ chance to say anything that wasn't said already in case you feel that these jurors aren't on your side. Marth?"

"Hmm..." Marth thought for a moment. "Well, I can say that it was a pleasure sharing this experience with every single one of you. The whole living up to your tribe name thing never really occurred to me. I was thinking of more of just my gameplay being pulled in all sorts of directions. I never thought that it was going to be quite chaotic and all over the place... Yet if you all feel that it is how an emperor lives up to his name, than I guess I have to thank you all."

Roy nodded.

"Even though playing the best game is key to getting the votes, honestly speaking, when I started off, it was more about making genuine relationships in my opinion, since I was not the only one that was competing in a season. We all know of the conditions we have to face... And to really make it all the way, I of course can not ask for anything better. So it really is something to be here facing all of you. I can not wait until the finale where all twenty of us would be seated together."

"Luigi?"

"Alright..." He honestly struggled to find his words, yet they came to him last minute. "...I... I appreciate you all taking the time to share your honest thoughts of me and my game. I enjoyed these thirty-nine days out here, yet I would not have enjoyed them as much as it was not for you all. Shovel Knight, Sheik, and Greninja, you guys mean a lot to me, and definitely played a role in making my Survivor experience fun and exciting."

An already proud Shovel Knight was beaming more than ever, as well as his other two close allies.

"It really was worth it coming out here. They saved me for last when it came to me and my brother, and perhaps it really was for a good reason. Of course outlasting all the knights was something that I never expected in a million years, yet here I sit talking to you all in attempt to become the Sole Survivor. And yes, some of you did say that my game could have been a bit better, yet like I told Foxy, I accept criticism, so that if I ever had any chance of returning, maybe it could mean something. So overall, it's been a pleasure."

"Zelda?"

She sighed. "Going from emperor to a knight appears to be what most of you thought of my game, and I might as well take it. Being an emperor and a knight is as if I am living in two different places at once."

"And..." The brunette took a moment to eye both Marth and Luigi individually. "I guess each one of us is unique in this final three. Marth lived up to be an emperor, Luigi lived up to be a knight, and you all think that I lived up to be both when it comes to real life and out here. Yes, clearly this was not my overall plans, nor was it how I intended to play, but whatever happened, happened. I took control at one point, and then I had to fight to stay alive out here multiple times. And to still be here even surprised myself. I do not come into the game expecting myself to reach the final three, yet the moment when I found out that I was going to be part of it, it really is an honor to reach this point, even when my plan was to simply survive day by day just to avoid going home."

"I have learned a lot throughout the past thirty-nine days, yet what I learned the most is that Survivor will live on forever and that it will always have a place in my heart. I really mean it when I say that it's been a wonderful time out here. You all have seen me at my highest highs and lowest lows... And in my opinion, that is what Survivor is all about..."

"...Alright... Jury, final three," The time has come. "great Final Tribal Council. Very healthy discussion here. Jury, you have heard everything you needed from Zelda, Luigi, and Marth, and you three have heard everything you needed in return. This will be the final time you will be voting this season, and keep in mind, you are voting for, a, _winner_... That being said, for the last time, it is time to _vote_... Shovel Knight, you're up."

"I suppose this means goodbye..." And the shovel wielder was off, taking his time to get down from the bench and making his way up to the urn, the same urn in which he would never have his hands on again.

Bonnie was called up next to cast his vote, followed by Knuckles, Shadow, and Roy, the latter making sure he wrote his number one ally's name in big letters.

"If I can compare Luigi and Shovel Knight, it would be us two. We also had a sibling like connection out here; one that I will always remember. You've really shown me an example out here. And I believe it is truly an honor to vote for you as my winner. Take care of your people and stay strong."

Afterwards, Foxy, Shulk, and Knuckles had their turn in casting their votes. As a result, Greninja and Sheik were the last one to head up there one by one.

And by the time they sat back down, the final votes for the season were officially cast.

"For the last time this season, I will get the votes..."

Upon him floating away, everyone exchanged glances with one another, including the final three. Luigi placed a hand on Zelda, as well as Marth from the other side of her.

"Finally we get to go home!" Luigi grinned.

"Agreed." Marth nodded. "My sister is probably worried sick again..."

Shortly after, Master Hand returned, placing the urn on the table. "Well,... if there is one thing I'd like to note, this season will go down as one of my favorites. Thank you all for coming out here."

His survivors could not have been happier.

"I would love to read these right now, but for Zelda, Marth, and Luigi, you guys would have to wait just a little longer. I'll see you all very soon."

Without another word spoken, he headed his way out through the entrance of the Tribal Council, all thirteen of them watching his disappear out of their sight.

Zelda heaved a heavy sigh. It was finally over.

* * *

_**SURVIVOR FINALE**_

Back at the Super Smash Ultimate Arena in Los Angeles, the moment when Master Hand appeared on the stage, the crowed almost instantly erupted into a huge uproar, the hand making his way over to place the urn down on the table. Floating between the final three and the jury in the process with them all of course looking fancier than ever before. the stage lit up.

With them all clapping, the host of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights of course had to calm everyone down. "Alright, alright, settle down. The time has come once again..."

He eyed the jury and the finalists. "Okay... So... This season is the second season where we accepted people from multiple universes. And I gotta say... it has been working out so far. Great season of Survivor, these twenty people including the ones backstage that will be here shortly all got to experience for themselves for the first time, and now it has come to this... _Luigi_... _Zelda_... _Marth_..."

They eyed him back with heavy grins.

"What a great final three we have here..." He said. "And now, I will read the votes one last time for this season. Keep in mind, that these votes are indeed for a winner. They will be _for_ you and not against you. Just so I can make myself clear... I will read the votes."

The crowd cheering once more, he uncapped the urn.

"First vote... Marth."

His heart immediately began beating at a rapid pace, staring all over with the Altean hero showing teeth.

The audience continued to cheer on.

"One vote Marth... Next vote... Marth."

Now the arena's volume began to raise even more.

"That's two votes Marth!"

The jury all sat down and continue to watch.

"...Marth. That's _three _votes Marth!"

At that moment, the blue-haired swordsman expressed his astonishment with his jaw dropping.

"...Four votes Marth!"

From that point on, he clapped a hand over his mouth to cover it.

"You got this Marth!" A female fan shouted from the audience.

...

"Marth! Five votes Marth!" Master Hand announced. "Just one more vote to read..."

...

"The winner of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights... Marth!"

It was as if time was frozen, with him now clapping both of his hands over his mouth completely staggered, the crowd erupting once more as the Survivor theme for the season beginning to play

"Come on up!"

Slowly, but surely, he rose up from his spot and calmly made his way over to receive his check for a million dollars from Master Hand, the jury and the other two finalists clapping from behind.

And by the time he headed down the steps to meet his close family and friends, he erupted into tears, crying in his big sister's arms.

A few seconds later, starting with Krystal and Pac-Man entering the stage, the rest of the pre-jurors all made their way over, greeting the jury members with open arms once Mega Man, Rouge, Ghirahim, Cloud, and Peach made it through.

"_Wow_!" Master Hand was now the center of attention. "That was a unanimous vote from the jury! Marth just won Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, making Zelda and Luigi both share second place! But nonetheless, great season indeed. But the fun _still_ doesn't stop yet! We have our live reunion show coming up where all twenty contestants are gonna reminisce the events of this season! Not only that, but we're also going to give someone a hundred thousand dollars for being the most voted player for Survivor - Emperors vs Knights. So don't go anywhere! We will be right back!"

And just before the commercial break, the giant screen that was shown in the arena, replayed a clip of Marth's reaction to his win at a slower speed.

* * *

_**Votes:**_

**Roy** \- Marth

**Shadow** \- Marth

**Shulk** \- Marth

**Freddy** \- Marth

**Sheik** \- Marth

**Greninja** \- Marth

**Knuckles** \- Marth

**Shovel Knight** \- Marth

**Bonnie** \- Marth

**Foxy \- Marth**

_**2nd Place**_** (Tie): Zelda**

_**2nd**_**_ Place_ (Tie): Luigi**

**_WINNNER:_ ****Marth**

* * *

_**Boot Order:**_

**Peach, Cloud, Ghirahim, Rouge, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Krystal, Shulk, Roy, Shadow, Greninja, Freddy, Bonnie, Knuckles, Foxy, Shovel Knight, Sheik, Luigi, Zelda, Marth**

* * *

**Well, there you have it! Marth Lowell is the second winner in my series!**

**I really like this final three! Three completely different gameplays with all three of them living up to their name in some way. I looked at the reviews. Literally, and I mean it. Literally _no one _expected Marth to win! They all thought of the winner being either Zelda or Luigi. However, I am extremely shocked of the fact that quite a few people predicted Luigi to be the winner here. Zelda I can easily understand, but Luigi? Really? lol.**

**So anyway, I would have heck of a lot more to say here, but this isn't the final chapter. That's going to be the reunion show that will take place on Wednesday that will officially put an end to the season. With that being said, this is the last chapter on where you guys can vote on your top five favorite players of the season. Afterwards, that's it. The poll will be closed so please make your vote count! It's on my profile (just not on the mobile site so you would have to go to the desktop/tablet version on your phone for mobile users and you have to be signed into your account I believe.) Someone is going to get an extra hundred thousand dollars in cash so I'm pretty sure you want your fav to get some kind of money lol.**

**Questions:**

**1\. Thoughts on the Final Tribal Council?**

**2\. Thoughts on Marth being the winner?**

**3\. Who would you have preferred to win?  
**

**This has been a great pleasure for me to write this guys! I will give more thanks in the final chapter! Challenges will be posted on my profile then, and still lookout for the Ponderosa chapters. They are coming one by one. Watch my YouTube intro for Survivor - Emperors vs Knights, and I will see you for the final, _final_ chapter for this story! Words alone cannot express how proud I am to have written this season, as well as Kodai Island as well! Thank you all!**


	49. Chapter 49: Epilogue

Survivor - Emperors vs Knights

Chapter 49 - Epilogue

**Well, here it is. The absolute last chapter, the _ finale _finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights (so sorry this is like four hours late, but at least it's the final one). This has been such a wonderful time, and I really appreciate you guys for staying with me so long, those of you who are either just now finding this series as well as the people that were with me in Kodai Island. The main goal was to improve on the problems Kodai Island had and I think it paid off. I don't know how Mexico would compare to it (considering that I didn't start on writing yet, but I actually had a bit of a head start on the pre-season.)**

**Here are my preferred rankings of the characters this season from last to first (there actually isn't anyone at all I actually disliked): Cloud, Pac-Man, Ghirahim, Shulk, Roy, Rouge, Krystal, Knuckles, Sheik, Marth, Mega Man, Bonnie, Shovel Knight, Peach, Greninja, Luigi, Shadow, Zelda, Freddy, Foxy. (So yeah, my character rankings were a mix of how they played, entertainment, and me overall caring about them wanting them to go far. I guess from Cloud to Ghirahim I never really cared for that much even though I found no problems with, and I would put Ghirahim higher but he was just too paranoid for his own good and it showed). But literally anyone else other than that, I wouldn't have minded if they actually won.**

**Oh yeah, I even have a confessional count for the season! Here is the list from least confessionals to most confessionals (didn't count confessionals that were separated in two paragraphs unless there was a text between them that was not italicized, so other than that, I didn't want certain paragraphs to be too long): Peach (3), Cloud (5), Pac-Man (8), Ghirahim (9), Rouge (10), Mega Man (12), Krystal (13), Shulk (16), Roy (17), Bonnie (23), Greninja (26), Luigi (29), Shadow (30), Shovel Knight (33), Freddy (35), Knuckles (36), Sheik (42), Zelda (42), Foxy (45), Marth (51). (Throughout the season, Luigi, Bonnie, Pac-Man, and Krystal got some of the quieter edits at points, Freddy, Marth, Zelda, Shadow, and Foxy were all leading at times, and everybody else had an average amount of time by the time they got eliminated.)**

**So finally let's talk about plans for this chapter. Reunion show where we go over the major events and a couple minor events of the game with all twenty of the characters, the extra hundred thousand dollar prize for one of these contestants, and then a preview of the next season, Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty).**

_**Derick Lindsey: **_**Yeah, that's what I was thinking. People did seem to care about Zelda more, so she probably would have gotten second place and would put Luigi in third. I don't even know if the jurors themselves expected Marth's vote to be unanimous lol. Everyone is probably shocked by Sheik and especially Shovel Knight. Oh, but then again, if those two voted for Zelda and Shovel respectively, they both would have been tied for second anyway lol.**

**(One more thing before we start: in case you haven't noticed, Foxy's Ponderosa chapter was released yesterday!)**

**~KF**

* * *

_**LIVE REUNION SHOW**_

* * *

_"Nothing wrong with trying something new for a change. I sort of asked my comrades back in Altea if I should travel here to play Survivor, and the decision was unanimous for me to head out here to compete, so I appreciate everyone from my kingdom for allowing me to apply for the competition for this amazing opportunity."_

_"You are officially going to stay on Exile Island."_

_"Marth, step away from your tribe."_

_"Apparently I am classified as an emperor this season. And after listening to the master's words, I assume that it does in fact make sense. __Following the unfortunate death of my father, I knew that it was my duty to take charge and lead an army of my own to save Altea, and I assume that is the reason I was put onto this tribe. And even though Survivor is clearly nothing like what I had to do in real life, based on what the theme is going to be this season, if my back is against the wall, I will find a way to push through in any way I can, just like how I pushed through with my army to save my kingdom."_

_"...Congratulations. You... found a clue to a hidden immunity idol!?" _

_"Nago falling behind a little but Marth is not giving up..."_

_"...Dear, _**_Nagi_**…"

_"All I can say is sometimes when you are an emperor, you have to be three steps ahead. Or else, someone probably would already discover any significant details and clues before anyone else. Now I no longer have to worry about anyone finding the idol before I do."_

"Marth, you're all on your own... _again_..."

"I mean, I am back on exile again. What is there more to say?"

_"This is a hidden immunity idol. Any votes cast for Marth will not count." _

_"**MARTH WINS IMMUNITY!**"_

_"I would like to steal... Marth's vote." _

_"Marth,... your 'advantage' is basically useless..."_

_"...So basically what you're saying is that you want me to flip and help vote one of those two out..."_

"_It__ would help me earn a better position in my new alliance by gaining Knuckles. _And what is best for my game plan is to take advantage of that and play up that card, with me being aware that Knuckles would be the one person to take that opportunity and go with it."

_ "...So now you are saying that I am the swing vote for tonight's Tribal Council..."_

_"__**MARTH WINS FINAL IMMUNITY! GUARANTEED SPOT AT THE FINAL TRIBAL COUNCIL!**_"

The crowd cheered greatly for Altean hero, Marth Lowell, as his compilation video of the season finished. With his smile, there was the occasional laugh as if he was still stunned at the voting result.

"Welcome back to the season finale of Survivor - Emperors vs Knights!" Master Hand introduced. "We are now having our live reunion show, where just a few minutes ago, Marth won the season in a unanimous jury vote against Zelda and Luigi. He is now the Sole Survivor of the season and is officially a millionaire!"

The audience erupted into a major uproar in response.

"This is overwhelming..." Marth actually spoke first at the sight of the numerous people watching him from their seats.

"Still shocked?" The host asked.

"Completely." He nodded. "I mean,... when I came here, I figured that I at least scored a few jury votes, but I doubt that most of the jury was going to vote my way. I thought that Zelda had it in the bag, yet I received the votes instead. So this is rather... unexpected to say the least. I do not know when is it going to hit me that I scored first place in the Survivor competition, yet my guess is when I begin to make my return home to Altea."

"Zelda, what did you think when you were watching that?"

"Well,-..." Before she started to explain her thoughts, the crowd suddenly cheered her on interrupting her sentence. Thus, she laughed and chose to wave.

"You seem to have a few fans out there."

"Apparently so." She agreed, nimbly getting right back on topic. "But anyway, coming into tonight, when I observed that Final Tribal Council once again, in my mind I was predicting that Marth had this one. Like him, I also expected a couple jury votes here and there, but I never thought that I was actually going to win. Though at the same time, I suppose it was understandable. We were both on the same tribe starting from day one, and we were both in a strong relationship both socially and strategically."

"Though for you two, Marth and Zelda, even though you two have been known to be an iconic pair of the season, there is one major difference between the two of you that the jury and the fans already know." Master Hand's finger raised. "As the jury stated, Marth played up to be an emperor, Zelda played up to actually be a knight, in spite of being an emperor in real life. And considering on how people were classified as being either emperors or knights, it was a rather interesting thing to look out."

"No doubt about it." Marth replied. "For all I know, the jury could have unanimously voted for Zelda for similar reasons. Though I suppose the Survivor Gods and the tribe has spoken as you say."

He then suddenly paused. "...I... Was I too... _emotional_?"

That earned a few laughs from others

"No, no, not at all." Master Hand could not have disagreed more. "How is your reaction to winning too emotional? You've won a million dollars, and you out of twenty people, is the Sole Survivor for your season. I am pretty sure you already know the odds of the average person winning."

"Indeed I do. That is to why part of me feels as if this is nothing but a dream. But, do not worry." He shook. "I've already pinched myself."

"Haha, okay then! So, let's talk about your gameplay. As it was clearly shown, your game has been an absolute rollercoaster. I don't know if you know what that is, but-"

"Oh, worry not, master." He waved a hand out and directed his thumb to one of the pre-jurors. "Pac-Man just so happened to show me what a rollercoaster is last week."

With Pac-Man now being in the center of attention, he chose to take advantage of it by literally facing the camera itself. "Hi!"

"And he even persuaded me to ride one for the first time..."

"Pac-Man, how did Marth do on the rollercoaster?"

"Well, it was really fun!" Being typical Pac-Man, he was grinning as ever. "I had a good time, but Marth just screamed the whole way."

"Um,..." He felt as if he was about to sweat out of embarrassment. "well, it was not as if it was something that I have ever experienced before..."

Even though the audience was chortling with him, and not directly at him, it never helped his feeling at the time.

"Well Marth, whether you like rollercoasters or not, hopefully you now realize that it is a perfect representation in general." Master Hand desired to make sure his recent winner understood the symbolism behind it. "I literally have a list that I've written myself of all the things you have done, or what has happened to you in the game..."

"Oh, _Nagi_..."

Everyone watched Master Hand pick up a piece of paper from behind him and began reading. "Alright. Day 9, Marth gets sent to Exile Island. Day 10, Marth finds a hidden immunity idol. Day 12, Marth gets sent back to Exile Island. Day 24, Marth plays his idol, sending home his number one ally, Roy. Day 26, Marth wins immunity, and blindsides Shadow with Zelda. Day 28, Marth flips on his alliance and blindsides Greninja. Day 30, Marth gets his vote taken away as Sheik holds him hostage in her alliance. Day 31, Marth convinces Knuckles to flip on his alliance..."

Before he could have even finished reading, the audience was laughing more than ever, yet slowly involving to most of them clapping in response.

"I mean, see, the thing is Marth, this is most likely the reason the jury decided to vote for you. You've literally... done everything! Your team won a challenge, your team lost a challenge, you've been sent to Exile Island multiple times, you've found an idol, you've found an advantage, you won individual immunity, you flipped on your alliance, you became a swing vote, and now you won. I mean, I mean, is there anything else that you've done?"

Most of his fellow competitors chuckled.

"Oh, and also, because of your win Marth, congrats for now being officially part of Survivor history. Exile Island has been part of the game for a while now, and up until now, the person that gets sent to Exile Island _after a swap_, has never won the game. And now you have officially broken the curse, so congrats."

Feeling overwhelmed by what Master Hand informed him, he simply smiled greatly as the crowd applauded for him once again.

"Alright. Zelda, we're going to get to you in a bit, but first, we gotta get to Sheik. Not only by her taking Marth's vote away, but also, it's been said that if she was in the final three, it was highly likely that she would have won this game. We're gonna get to the latter first. Here's what we're gonna do. So apparently, the plan at the final four was to have Marth go if Sheik won immunity, which of course didn't happen."

"Nope." Sheik shook her head rapidly. "I actually regret that day, master. It was a maze and we were all blindfolded. It was literally the one challenge where I could have won, but I couldn't. Not to say that it was Marth's fault of course, but it is the fault of my own. I should have had the advantage of figuring things out with me being a ninja and all."

"Well maybe when you took away Marth's vote you kept him so close to you, he somehow actually took some of your ninja's skills with him."

Nearly everyone laughed, and Sheik herself even went with it.

"Yeah, you're probably right."

"But, let's just see first." Time for an experiment. "If Marth got voted out and if he is on the jury, and if Sheik was in the final three with Luigi and Zelda, who would the jury vote for? How many votes for Luigi?"

...

"How many votes for Zelda?"

Marth actually lifted up a hand, causing a few laughs from some of the competitors as well as a few people from the audience.

"Alright, one vote Zelda!" Master Hand tallied. "How many votes for Sheik?"

Literally all the other jurors raised their hands.

"Alright..." Now having his answer, he glanced back at the ninja. "So Sheik, you know what this means..."

"Yep." She nodded immediately. "No need to explain it. I've already thought about it the moment when I got voted off. It's cool."

"Well, with that out of the way, now we're going to get to probably one of the craziest moves in modern Survivor, where you stole Marth's vote, he tried to counter that, didn't work, Freddy paid the price and got eliminated. Let's roll that one more time..."

And so, on the big screen, it replayed from the moment Sheik got up and played her advantage, to the point where Marth realized he had no power, Freddy then being seen having his torch being snuffed.

The bear himself decided to comment on that. "This is where Marth should have went home."

The arena erupted in laughter once again as Freddy Fazbear was now the center of attention.

"I mean, like I said at the Final Tribal Council, since Sheik said that Zelda had the choice of either keeping me and getting rid of Marth, or keeping Marth and getting rid of me, I feel if I would have survived, the story of the season would have went in an alternate direction." He opinionated. "But he chose to save his life and left me for dead. But then again, it was probably the right move, anyway."

"Zelda, what do you think about it when you chose Marth over Freddy? You feel you made the right move?"

"Well, even though Marth received the votes, I thought that it would have been even worse if I chose to keep Freddy in over him." She thought out loud. "Getting rid of Marth in my opinion would have been a horrible choice on my part, and the worst mistake I possibly could have. Not only I was closer to Marth strategically, but Freddy already had close allies he was counting on; they probably would have done something to break the Chatan Alliance again. He clearly was even more likely to win immunities. Marth didn't really have anyone that was willing to back him up, especially since after seeing the edit, me and Marth would have most likely been on the bottom of the Pirate Crew alliance."

Foxy hung his head down and shook his head out of guilt despite the heavy smirk on his face.

"So Sheik," Master Hand went back to Impa's student again. "Zelda gives you the permission to steal Marth's vote and force him to work with you. Basically, keeping him was the overall plan, but if Marth stated that he didn't want to work with you and your alliance, were you actually planning on voting him out right on the spot?"

"Right on the spot." Sheik was not hesitant in her answer. "Keeping Marth was the plan, though even if we voted him out that night because of him refusing, like... that wasn't our plan. We really needed Marth, since he was that extra number that was necessary for the alliance. So with no Marth, and no Freddy either, even though we would have had the majority back, it would have been a Win-Lose situation, you know? I didn't want to just get the majority back. I had no plans on being on the bottom anymore. Just because I was a knight in the game for example, doesn't mean that I _had_ to be on the bottom. It takes one time for me to be in that position, and I was going to do everything within my power to make sure that never happened again... And it worked! ...Though at the same time, it was why I had to go in the first place... Oh, and one more thing, I just _had_ to avenge Greninja."

Him now being in the spotlight for at least five seconds, he waved his hand in front of everyone.

"Yet another tight pair." Master Hand replied.

"I am actually glad I never refused, though." Marth spoke up again. "Had I did, I would have been eliminated, and then I would have made one of the... 'dumbest moves in Survivor history' as they say."

Sheik and Zelda laughed in response.

"But the bottom line is that even though my vote was taken away,..." He showed his hand to Knuckles. "I managed to convinced Knuckles to flip, won immunity again, and now, look what happened to me."

"And look at that." Master Hand 'nodded' in agreement. "You still made it out of that awkward spot in one piece, and that's how you lived up to your name. Good job."

"Thank you."

After yet another loud clap, the large, white-gloved hand wanted to interact with Zelda a bit more, as well as focusing on the other finalist.

"We'll be taking a break for a few minutes, but first I want to focus on the rest of the finalists just a little while longer. Zelda, you are known for being the emperor that turned into a knight by being the season's main underdog, Luigi, while you may not have been an underdog strategically, you ended up living up to your name by being an underdog for personal reasons. Zelda, we'll start with you first. As you may already know, you've been to your number of tribals. You were targeted left and right when the season first started. Yet every time you were targeted, somebody else ended up going home instead. As a result, Peach, Ghirahim, Pac-Man, Roy, and Sheik all had to pay the price in some way just so that you could be sitting in the final three. And since we have all twenty contestants from this season by the way, that means that Ghirahim is here on the top row!"

He did nothing but smirk.

"You were one of the early obstacles that Zelda had to get over." Master Hand was now looking up and over to him. "So, how exactly do you feel knowing that you were booted out third, placed eighteenth in the season, while Zelda had actually gone all the way to the final three, tying second place right behind Marth, who was also in this supposed 'Pair Up Alliance?'"

Ignoring the laughter, he went on to explain what he was thinking at the time. "Now, when it came to the Pair Up Alliance that I thought was existing back in the day, I will admit... My paranoia level was just a little too high."

At least he had a bit of self-awareness.

"I could have sworn that those six were together all in that alliance. Yet by now knowing the truth of what actually occurred on the island, I basically could have made it even further somehow. Instead I simply dug my own grave. Even Shadow wanted me out of the picture."

The hedgehog basically ignored him. It was as if he knew his time was coming anyway.

"Yet when it comes to Zelda, here's a small update: can't say we interact with each other that much. I am not afraid of admitting that, though at the same time, I also just so happened to be a fan of Survivor. Thus, it is almost as if I am obligated to give credit where it is due, especially since I was a fellow contestant. I was playing the game just like everyone else. Seventeen people have made it further than I did, and Zelda got one of the top spots. She certainly was an underdog, so I have to give her props for that."

"Thank you." She said respectfully, though she wanted to keep talking with Master Hand. "But yes, there were people that I missed greatly throughout the game. First Tribal Council, I was a target by not being physically strong in a challenge. I was saved by the puzzle, but in consequence, Peach had to go, and most of us were not willing to see her torch being snuffed at all, yet we all had to go through it."

Peach smiled and decided to speak herself. "I mean, I can not say that I felt a little hurt re-watching it, especially with me being the very first boot of the season. But in all honesty, of course it has made me an even stronger person before. Everyone back home decided to bake me sweets and treats to try and cheer me up, but I've already accepted my fate. The game must go on. Fortunately Zelda just so happened to be the person I was rooting for the most, and she has made it all thirty-nine days. She really deserved to make it that far."

"Thank you, Peach." She stated. "But overall, Master Hand, stepping into the shoes of a knight, looking back at it now, it was rather interesting to watch. There were times where I felt I was at my lowest point, especially losing two challenges while I was on the Chatan tribe, but I knew I had to constantly pick myself up and fight so I can stay in the game as long as I possibly can. I could have been voted out at any moment instead of some of the others, yet that was enough motivation for me to keep going. Hopefully my fellow Hyrulians from back at home sees this somehow, so that I can show exactly why giving up is not the best option. If you can get through thirty-nine hard fought days with all the paranoia and everything, now I feel like I can get through anything."

"Great story, Zelda." Time for Luigi to have the spotlight. "Now as for you, Luigi, you were one hundred percent a pure knight out there, even though your alliance was in control for most of the time. You were also an underdog for personal reasons. You weren't the strongest on your tribe, you took part in the opening challenge with Rouge, and you had your story about your brother, who is here, by the way. Mario, where you at?"

Standing up from his spot, the crowd loudly cheered him on.

"And he just so happened to be on the last season, Survivor - Kodai Island. Mario, before I continue talking with your bro, I want you to give him any advice on him really quick."

"Gladly." He responded as all eyes were on him, staring at his younger sibling directly in his eyes. "I mean, you know, we both know what went on in our real lives before we came out here, and we already know what challenges we both had to face in both of our seasons. And with you, you were possibly the first boot out of your tribe, and you didn't let that get you down because you kept pushing forward. Sure, we both know that you didn't win, though getting to day thirty-nine, even not being the first person eliminated from the game, nor your tribe is a big accomplishment all on its own. You outlasted so many people in a tough game such as this, so you know that I'm still proud no matter what."

"Thank you, bro."

Clearly there was no point for sibling rivalry.

"Alright, thank you Mario." Master Hand focused back on the green-capped Mushroom Kingdom citizen. "So Luigi, as Mario said, getting by your first Tribal Council alone is an achievement. But in your case, it's a major, _major_ achievement. …You were literally spared over the strongest guy in your entire tribe!"

Cloud never made any sort of big reaction the few moments where he was in the spotlight.

"And from that point on, you've made friends with just the right people, and that was what caused you to get far, even outlasting everyone of your original alliance with the rest of the Chatan Four members, including your number one ally, Shovel Knight. ...And how does that make you feel?"

"Well,..." He never knew exactly where he was supposed to start. "...perhaps it adds onto the learning experience this whole thing gives you. Once you've played the game, you come out of it learning something. I've learned much more about myself, and now I feel more confident than ever. I still remember that opening challenge with Rouge just as if it happened yesterday. I _never_ wanted to travel on the beam over the water. Like... I could have fallen in and there would have been no way I would have made it to day thirty-nine. But I thought quickly, and told myself that I had to come out of my shell playing a game like this anyway. So, I just had to do it. I did it for my tribe, and when I was finished, I actually felt very happy about it. Being useful is a nice feeling."

"But most importantly, I don't know how things would have been..." Since Sheik was in the way, he leaned his head back and pointed at the armored warrior himself. "if it wasn't for this guy. Shovel Knight helped me a _lot_ when it came to stuff. It was an absolute pleasure to have him. I clearly would have been more likely to go home if it wasn't for him."

Upon receiving the applause, the shovel wielder grinned back. "Much appreciated, Luigi. But don't think that I have simply helped you. It was not just that. You have helped me as well."

"In what way?"

"Well, long story short, you helped me gain my first ally in the competition."

"So Shovel Knight, good thing you were brought up." It was perfect timing for the host. "I wanted to get to you, anyway before we take a break. You openly stated that you've been on many adventures before, and that this one proved to be one of a kind for you. I've seen Luigi evolve, but I've seen you evolve as well... strategically."

"Indeed." He knew he was not wrong.

"Aside from pulling Luigi in so that you could have a close ally to work with, you said at one point in the show that you never really had too many ideas for your game strategically. That's why you were thankful to have Greninja and Sheik around. But slowly that started to change. When Marth took out Greninja with telling Freddy who the target was, which was Knuckles, you had an idol at the time and you chose to let him go. Sure, there would not have been any votes had that be the case anyway, you guys didn't know that Marth flipped until after the votes have been read, therefore, you already chose the opportunity to not play it on Greninja. Furthermore, there was another situation where you were considering on using Foxy to test Sheik. So slowly, but surely, you were really proving yourself out there little by little."

"Yes, perhaps you can say that." Shovel took it. "I was thankful to have both Greninja and Sheik by my side. Sheik, especially Greninja taught me so much of the strategic aspect of the game, and I simply thought of what I was going to do myself. So on top of me interacting and getting along with everyone, I wanted to make subtle moves to avoid being targeted. That is why I would have been hesitant of me actually flipping and voting Greninja out. Though as for Sheik, she did wanted to get rid of me, and had I known a hundred percent that she was trying to get rid of me, I would not have been hesitant at all to take her out. But unfortunately, since I am not a mind reader, I wasted a perfect opportunity to get rid of her before she got rid of me."

"Maybe that was your price for not saving me." Greninja giggled as well as a few others from the crowd.

"You know, maybe it was." He went along with it. "Though Luigi, he was the one person of these three that I was absolutely taking to the end. I am very proud of him, and he knows it. Now me and Mario are already great friends."

With the crowd clapping once more, Master Hand was ready to head into the first commercial break. "Alright. We'll be right back. But when we come back, we are gonna talk about the biggest villain of the season, Shadow the Hedgehog, and then we're gonna have a chat with Foxy and his 'Pirate Crew Alliance.' And then later on, you guys voted. Someone is gonna get an extra hundred thousand dollars. Our announcement for our next season will come shortly after. It is the Survivor - Emperors vs Knights reunion show!"

-/-

_"Perhaps this is an opportunity to test myself. Back where I come from, people see me as a force to be reckoned with. Whether people like me or not, it still does not change the fact that people have known for easily stepping over anyone that comes in my way. Depending on how people perceive in this competition, it's as simple as the old saying goes: 'Stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours.'"_

_"Okay." The tallest member of Nago immediately began to talk. "So I've gave it some thought, and initially I figured that we call our alliance the Comeback Alliance due to our current unfortunate situation. However, I then figured that at this point, we might as well name it the Karma Alliance instead." _

_"..."_

_"Ghirahim."_

_"...Pac-Man, get up!"_

_"I... oof! I-I'm trying!"_

_"I've seen certain seasons to where people from the majority flip on one another, so I wanted to tell Shulk and Shadow that it's best for us to prepare for both Krystal and Knuckles, because if they're that desperate, they would do everything in their power for one of us to backstab the other. But I trust Shadow, and we need Shulk for challenges. So I doubt it's a smart idea for me to turn on one of them."_

_"Mega Man."_

_"..."_

_"Shadow the Hedgehog is a master manipulator."_

_"...We need you. We think that the best thing to do for all of us is to vote six strong, plus Knuckles and vote out Greninja." _

_"Shulk__."_

_"That settles it. Everyone, for those of you that are curious, the three of us have decided that we are going to put Shadow's name down."_

_"Do you think it's even worth it to work with Shadow at this point?"_

_"Hope everyone's satisfied."_

_"Shadow, the tribe has spoken."_

A mixture of clapping and chortling sounded from the audience as Shadow the Hedgehog now earned the attention from everyone in the area.

"Alright, we're back at our Survivor - Emperors vs Knights reunion show!" Master Hand greeted once again. "Marth is our winner for this season, but with the heroic stuff aside, we have a villain here, that goes by the name of Shadow the Hedgehog. ...Shadow, I do gotta admit. No matter what type of game you played out there, you clearly have some fans, so _somebody_ was interested. I... I don't even know where to start. ...Perhaps I'll just start with this simple question. Just what was your overall plan out there?"

He started out with a sigh folding up his arms. "Well, master, it is just as I said in my opening confessional. I didn't know how people were going to react upon seeing me there, yet as far as gameplay was concerned, 'stay out of my way, and I'll stay out of yours.' And people clearly wanted me out early on. Peach and Zelda threw my name to save themselves at the first Tribal Council, then me and Ghirahim were thrown under the bus for not being the most sociable of the group. Sure Ghiraham got eliminated first in a unanimous vote, though I was still at the bottom. Wouldn't be surprised if I was the next set to go. So come the swap, due to me being at the bottom of the old Emperors Alliance, there was no way in the name of chaos that I was just going to ride my tribe's coattail until they decided that they weren't going to need me anymore."

"Okay, woah, woah, slow down for a second." Master Hand held a hand out. "I know what you were getting at. Now, we clearly need to talk about it because it was the biggest moments of the season. ...The Mega Man blindside."

With a few laughs, the Blue Bomber shook his head with a smirk.

"Let's watch that real quick..."

All eyes were on the big screen as Mega Man was shown to be eliminated by one vote too many.

"Okay, so looking back at that, Shadow, what were your thoughts going into that tribal, since we're already getting into it."

"Well, my thoughts were that since I was already on the bottom of the old Emperors Alliance, I knew that all of them were going to attempt at the hardest by keeping me with him and then they decided to throw me away. Knuckles just so happened to be in the exact same boat I was, so that made us get a head start in our strategic relationship. Knuckles was right when he stated that voting out Krystal at the time would have increased his chances of getting eliminated in the swap say if we lost for a second time... I mean, what else was I suppose to do? Vote out Shulk? Even I would have called that a bad move, because at least Shulk could help his team win challenges. No offense to Mega, but he clearly was the weakest of the three of it. And since I couldn't vote myself out, clearly he was literally the only option."

"Now Mega Man, what exactly were your thoughts at the time? Did you think it was the right move for Shadow to make?"

He sighed, finally explaining his side of the story. "At the time, I actually was not thinking about whether Shadow or not made the right decision, even though I was the one person that wanted to keep him in, and then this happens. But as I was walking out of the Tribal Council area, I was greatly confused. I mean, I just wanted to know why I got voted off, that was all. But now that I see what Shadow was thinking at the time, ...well, can't say that I actually blame him. It's like the Freddy-Zelda-Marth situation. Shadow chose to keep Knuckles over me, and that was that. Krystal did go home eventually anyway, since that tribe did in fact lost another challenge. And if it really was Knuckles, Shadow would have had a much harder time keeping him in. So maybe it was a good move personally to get rid of me at that point. But I got over it. We already talked about it. I'm alright."

"But for you, Shadow, that was only the start. You did end up having a relationship with Knuckles, though what came next for your game is that you were approached by this whole 'Pirate Crew Alliance' thing named by Foxy (which we will get to in a minute). That alliance did protect you, but you ended up helping getting rid of Shulk, causing Zelda and Marth to throw you under the bus at the next Tribal Council. And what happens, you get eliminated at eleven as a result."

He shook his head. "The same of how Mega Man never blamed me for blindsiding him, the same thing of how I didn't necessarily blame Marth and Zelda for that move. Sure, I felt some type of way at the time, yet overall, I suppose their move was understandable."

"...So do you regret _any _ of the moves you've made throughout the season?" He felt the need to give him that question. "Anything that wanted to change?"

"Well,..." He thought out loud for a moment. "I suppose the only regret I have is not justifying my reasons for eliminating some of the people I eliminated. Silly me could not have came up with a good excuse at all for the Mega Man blindside. Sure, I don't regret actually making the moves, when it comes to people being out of the loop, you gotta make sure 'damage control' is your name out there. Sheik and her alliance did damage control for the Cloud vote, and that is when I knew that I should have done the same thing. But, you know what? Since I did not want to allow anyone standing in my way, I never though of it like that. Maybe that was why Marth and Zelda just tossed my name out there at that Tribal Council hoping everybody picked up what they were putting down about me... They actually listened the tribal after that, and it was my downfall..."

"That's all you have to say?"

"That's all I gotta say. People can take it and think whatever they want..."

For some reason that caused quite a few people from the audience to laugh out loud at that. Shadow never found where they were coming from, yet he felt that he already made a few points with his statements.

"Well, since we are already on Shadow, let's just jump into this whole Pirate Crew thing." Master Hand faced the camera once again. So at the final thirteen in the game, there was a secret Hidden Five Alliance forming which contained Freddy and Shadow from the old Emperors tribe, and Bonnie, Knuckles, and Foxy all from the original Knights tribe. ...Knuckles, we're gonna get started with you first. You were an early target in the game due to you being out of the Cloud blindside with Rouge, you feuded with Rouge, and you were spared. And that started an early relationship with you, Bonnie, and Foxy."

"Yeah, Foxy saved me that day." He recalled. "Me and Rouge just couldn't get along at the end. I felt that she was trying way too hard at playing the flirt card, and that caused a problem for me. I knew I had to get her out of her. But luckily for Foxy and Bonnie, they thought that I was a useful number for the alliance, so they took me in afterwards."

"What's the status of the relationship between you and Rouge now?"

Staring all the way to the bat in the eyes, she decided to speak herself. "Well, the two of us are at least tolerating each other for right now if anyone is curious. Friends, I am not sure at this moment. But let us just say that there are still a couple of common interests between us. I believe it is simply say that sometimes, some Survivor strategies didn't mesh. This relationship is one of them."

"Yeah, what she said."

"Alright, that seems to be fair enough..." Master Hand moved onto one of the FNAF characters. "Freddy. You also played a big part in that alliance. You had a bond with Foxy back on Motobu, and you turned out to be the target at the merge vote, where Foxy, Knuckles, and Bonnie saved your life, while Shadow flipped with you and you two decided to vote out Shulk... while you had yet to play your idol at the time."

"Yeah, playing double agent was not easy. Not just on the whole strategy aspect, but I did actually like my fellow emperors. It hurt when I had to lie to Shulk, Roy, Marth, and especially Zelda, but I didn't want to go home, so it was the only way. And yeah, like Knuckles, Foxy was the main one that saved my life. Had it not been for him, I would have been out heck of a lot earlier than ninth place and I still didn't choose to play my idol at the time. But I guess this is why making connections is key to being out here. You never know. It is those connections that can greatly benefit you. And that's what happened."

"And not only that Foxy saved you, you saved your entire alliance when you finally decided to play that idol."

"Oh, that?" He popped an eyebrow. "I actually give fifty-five percent of the credit to Marth for that. The rest of it was me trying to figure out if what he was saying was whether or not all the way true. Without Marth, there was no way I was gonna play it on Knuckles. I was thinking between me and Foxy. But yeah, my game came to a point where it was all about helping people, whether I realized it last minute or not, but it's kinda true. Foxy helped me at the merge vote, I helped our entire alliance by playing that idol. Marth told me the information that I needed, and I was planning on continuing on helping him... but then I got voted off. Zelda helped me adapt back on the Emperors tribe since I was so curious to what people were thinking of me, and in the end, I... well I told Zelda that I was gonna make sure she stayed in the game, but funny enough, it became Marth's very job."

Once he finished explaining his take on his alliance as well as his game on general, it was time for the hand to make time for the captain of the alliance himself. "Now, here we have... _Captain Foxy_."

The audience and cheered him on as he laugh a little.

"Now, Foxy, your name has already been brought up a few times." Master Hand stated. "You are basically responsible for having a bit of impact on the season. You were sorta under the radar at first, while at the same time, grabbing allies left and right, with you all staying together protecting one another until it came to a point where you all thought that it was the perfect time to make a move. And they one time you tried to, of course it didn't go as planned. Nonetheless, your impact clearly didn't go unnoticed by your fellow jury members over here."

"Yep." He nodded. "First I recruited Bo- well, Bonnie recruited me... I then recruited Knuckles, I recruited Freddy after that, and then later on I recruited Shadow just when I needed to. The three knights felt they were on the bottom and Shadow and Freddy felt they were on the outs. So naturally the five of us were all going to be in an alliance with one another."

"But I suppose sometimes in Survivor you rely on luck. The one time we wanted to strike, things didn't go as planned. We were trying so hard to flush that idol by getting rid of Luigi, yet it didn't matter because Marth and Zelda turned on Shadow because he was too untrustworthy for them. We did have a bit of a revival next round by Marth actually join us, but pretty soon the alliance contained nothing but the captain and the captain himself. They took Freddy away from me, they took Bonnie away from me, and they even took Knuckles away from me. They even took Marth with me and made him surrender to the Chatan Alliance."

"But you voted your number one ally out!"

"Well, it was not as if Bonnie was my intention on blindsiding. If there was anything I could have done, I could have fought a lot harder to make him stay. Though desperate times call for desperate measure. I knew I was the target at eight after Marth convinced Knuckles to flip, so voting out Bonnie was the last option I had in mind... But I did it, and poor Bonnie ended up accidentally going home."

"And Bonnie, you even said yourself that had you known that Foxy was gonna do this, you were set on voting him out yourself, and you probably would have been the last of the Pirate Crew."

"I wouldn't have minded that." Bonnie turned his head side to side. "The piarte's _sidekick_ had to do his job too... when he couldn't necessarily do it this time, but you all get it the point."

"So Foxy, you said that for your game, you were trying to balance the social aspect of the game and the strategic aspect of the game." Master Hand recalled. "Tell me about that."

"Gladly." He nodded. "See, that was my main goal out there in the game. Of course I wanna make moves to get myself farther in the game, but it's not like I'm gonna completely disregard the whole relationship and social aspect in the game. I started off early, and Bonnie saved me from being on the wrong sides of the numbers. So we made a bond at that point. Me and Freddy bonded on Motobu, and both me and Bonnie already had Knuckles. And by the way things turned out, relationships do matter in a game of Survivor. They _really_ matter here. When it comes to the social and strategic aspects of the game, you have to have a certain balance between the two... And... looks like it worked rather well. Now I can be strategic and close friends at the same time. It may not have paid off, sure, but it was well worth it taking the time to get to know these people. Heck, even Shadow thanked me one time."

Though he never really wanted to be back on the spotlight, he simply sat in his spot and nodded to be truthful.

"Alright, well, we are gonna go ahead and enter another commercial break. _But_, when we come back, there is still the extra hundred thousand dollars we will be giving to somebody. And afterwards, plans for next season. It is the Survivor - Emperors vs Knights reunion show!"

-/-

_**"Survivor is looking for new players! It could be you! Apply now!"**_

-/-

"Welcome back to the Survivor - Emperors vs Knights reunion show!" The host was back once more. "We've just gone over some of the major events that occurred this season as well as interacting with most of your favorite survivors from this season, but now it is time for an extra reward. Marth Lowell has already won the million dollar prize for winning the game, but online, you all have been voting for the fan favorite for this season, and we have the results right here. Here are the nominees... _Luigi, Krystal, Greninja, Roy, Shadow, Rouge, Zelda, and Knuckles_..."

"Dang..." Foxy looked around. "Eight people..."

"And the winner is... Well, we have a tie... between Shadow and Krystal."

That shocked nearly everyone in the entire room, yet the audience created an uproar once again congratulating the two fan favorites of the season.

Both the hedgehog and vixen just so happened to be sitting in the same row.

"Well, we did it. We won." Krystal spoke with a smirk.

"Hmph…" said Shadow. "At least I won something..."

"Alright..." With that announcement out of the way, Master Hand was officially ready to announce something else. "So... about our next season of Survivor..."

-/-

_**Survivor is once again traveling to a new location... it is a place that we have never been before... Mexico...**_

_**But that is not all. Not only we are traveling to Mexico to visit the Aztec Empire, we are also bringing back one of the most beloved themes in Survivor history think...**_

_**Brain vs Brawn vs**__** Beauty!**_

_**Brain**_

_**They are known for using their intelligence and thinking outside of the box as a strategy to get through life...**_

_Espio_

_"I'm a ninja from a detective agency. Being a detective alone takes smart thinking skills. Yet, being a ninja on top of it? That's double the time and effort I have to put in to get the job done. Thus, coming into this game, I have the patience to solve any mystery that is out there, such as finding an idol, or simply getting to the bottom of things for example."_

_Funky Kong_

_"So yeah, remember Donkey Kong from Kodai Island? He just so happens to be my cousin. Now it's my turn. Diddy's too young to be out here, so it looks like this is my job now. ...So what do **I** do? I offer DK and his friends different transportation methods that I make myself whenever he decides to go on an adventure. And trust me. It ain't as easy as it may sound. I always put my blood, sweat, and tears into making those things. Maybe if I can win this thing, then ...I can make more inventions than ever before! Oh yeah, this is gonna be **sick**!"_

_**Brawn**_

_**They are known for relying on physical strength and their aggressive personalities to get by...**_

_Tifa_

_"I thought that it was either going to be this or somehow the Beauty tribe, but I think in the end they made the right choice. After all, people have literally said that I can decimate any enemy with my fists. I mean, I joined a group called AVALANCHE so I can fight back against the people that destroyed my hometown. So if I can continue to fight for that, that gives me more than enough strength to push myself out here." _

_Incineroar_

_"With me being a boxing champion, not only I give myself an advantage physically, but to my entire team. Of course if we all want to avoid Tribal Council, we need to win as many challenges as possible in order to avoid it. Say if there is a target on my back for example, by us never going to Tribal Council, guess what? Now they can't vote me out!"_

_**Beauty**_

**_They are known for using their looks and social skills to get their way..._**

_Rosalina_

_"I mean, I wouldn't say that life's all about looks. However, I am a people person, and anyone that plays Survivor is well aware that socialization is what the game is basically. The easier time you have when it comes to connecting with others, it leads to more allies you could have by your side. And the first step is to try to get along with everyone."_

_Panther_

_"Get this: I am a mercenary on the **Beauty **tribe of all places. Though when it comes to me, I don't think that is my looks that reel people in... or at least not that alone. Though the main trick I use is my personality. And I'll admit. I do flirt from time to time. But for the most part is just to have fun and play around... But hey, whatever brightens the mood at camp, I suppose..."_

**_With this theme being tested out for the third time in Survivor history, which skill will prevail in a game like Survivor?_**

**_It is Survivor - Mexico (Brain vs Brawn vs Beauty)!_**

_**Coming late spring!**_

-/-

With the promotional footage of the season fading anyway, the focus was now in the arena, with Master Hand taking center stage.

"Our next season of Survivor will start in May of this year. Follow our website for updates. And speaking of our websites, if you haven't found out already, we are always looking for new players! You might be one of them! Go to the CBS website for more information! And as usual, thank you for following us for so long! This has been a really fun season of Survivor, so thank you for sticking with us! See you soon! Goodnight!"

And with that, Master Hand's work was once again finished, the castaways soon getting up from where they were sitting and began interacting with one another on the stage.

* * *

**DONE. (Lol)**

**Well, this is it for the second time. Thank you all for the support for this story! Of course when comparing this season with Kodai Island, I of course prefer this season. More character development, and more interesting story arcs with some of these people. I'd like to thank the following: MilesTPrower14, SharpDragonKlaw, Princess Toady, conradhcooper, Historyfan15, Derick Lindsey, dbot, Marvis and Zera, Icee the Hedgehog, DaleGadget4Ever, Crazy Packers Fan, breath20k, and Kurokodairu - SNSF. Whether you started off with this or Kodai Island, I really appreciate it! Kodai Island used to be my most reviewed fic here on this site, though clearly thanks to this it is not the case anymore so I only have you all to thank! This is also the longest Fanfiction I have ever written. I am literally almost at 300k lol. And I have been here since 2011. Wow lol.**

**As far as plans for the next season go, as I've stated before, it's gonna be a bit before I get the next season rolling. So for those of you that started off with this season, if you just can't get enough of my series, Kodai Island is here if you haven't read it yet! Sure, I stated that this is the superior season in my opinion, Kodai Island is the fic that started it all. But for Survivor - Mexico, the first chapter for the pre-season will be released on April 29 of this year. And if you want, I can remind you via PM, and the guess reviewers can mark that date on their phones or something, because I don't want to leave them out. (The first chapter for the main fic will be released likely on May 20 of this year, and in Game X-Over x Super Smash Brother section like this one, and all future Survivor fanfictions.**

**As I said earlier, Foxy's Ponderosa chapter is now out, and the final two will be released soon.**

**Questions:**

**1\. What are your honest thoughts about the season, and how would you compare it to the previous season?**

**2\. (And in case you don't already know, I am planning an All Star season, Heroes vs Villains after season 4, with five people from each season coming back.) Which castaways would you like me to bring back for it?**

**3\. What would be your own boot order for the season?**

**4\. What is your favorite elimination for the season?**

**5\. Which castaways are you looking forward to for season 3? (Brain (Funky Kong, Plague Knight, Isabelle, Jimmy Hopkins, Espio, Golden Freddy "Golden"), (Brawn (Ryu, Tifa, Incineroar, Katt, Jet, Specter Knight), Beauty (King Knight, Bandanna Dee, Daisy, Chica, Panther, Rosalina)**

**Welll… I have nothing to say here. I mean you can watch the YouTube intro one more time if you want, but other than that... I guess this is it for right now for at least one and a half months except for the final two Ponderosa chapters coming up! I wish all of you good luck and we will return for season three, because we're going to Mexico - The Aztec Empire!**


End file.
